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Philippines’ US$23 billion education budget is highest ever but will it make the grade?
Critics are worried that the massive budget would either fall prey to corruption or not be enough to tackle long-standing problems
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The Philippines’ largest-ever education budget has been hailed by teachers and education advocates, but many have also warned that money alone cannot reverse years of weak learning outcomes and chronic teacher and classroom shortages.
Last month, the Senate approved a 1.37 trillion peso (US$23 billion) allocation for education, the largest in the country’s history.
It is equivalent to about 4 per cent of the Philippines’ gross domestic product, aligning for the first time with UN recommendations that education spending should consist of 4 to 6 per cent of GDP.
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Of that, 961.3 billion pesos will go to the Department of Education to channel mainly into school facilities and the construction of 35,000 new classrooms.
Another 135 billion pesos have been earmarked for state universities and colleges, 34 billion pesos for the Commission on Higher Education, and 20.24 billion pesos for the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
The historic budget comes amid mounting evidence of a learning crisis in the Philippines.
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