GOTCHA, Published in The Philippine Star, Friday, January 11, 2008
Administration critics often find Cabinet men too defensive about shortcomings. So they were nonplused when Education Sec. Jesli Lapus himself declared that the schooling crisis is presently at its worst.
Lapus perhaps had taken on an impossible mission when he left Congress for his new post 18 months ago. With only 6 of every 1,000 Grade 6 graduates then ready to enter high school and only two of every 100 4th Year students fit to go to college, only 19 of every 100 teachers adept in English, much more Science and Math, and up to 70 pupils crammed in public classrooms with no desks or books, one cannot expect much change in that short time span. Lapus says his gains by far are modest. But coming from where he did, critics now see light at the end of the tunnel.
Lapus in 2007 focused on increasing “pupil participation and the holding power of schools.” Various come-ons induced parents to bring their kids to schools, including daycares that taught the DepEd curriculum. Once there, children were motivated to stay by feeding them free.
The point was not only to perk up attendance, from 90% in 2006 to 95% in 2007. More than that, early initiation to learning via preschools, and keeping kids interested in schoolwork reduced the dropout rate and raised achievement rates. Strict attention was given to the first three grades, where the highest dropout rate has been seen. Notably 40% of Grade 1 entrants in 2007 were ready for formal schooling, compared to 35% in 2006. Enrolment in preschools and Grade 1 zoomed threefold to 2.7 million.
Total elementary and high school signups rose 1% from 19.4 million in 2006 to 19.7 in 2007. Two-thirds of them were in elementary; two-thirds also were in public schools. The
A different test was given to high school seniors, one that assessed career inclination. Only 4% scored high enough for college education. But 54.5% were strong in vocational-technical skills that could readily be honed for work. Also 58% rated well in entrepreneurial skills, although having the capital for business is another matter altogether.
Then, there was the infrastructure for Lapus to fix. Yearly the DepEd has had to make do with rotting and overcrowded classrooms, overworked teachers handling oversized classes, and very few principals. Money was never enough for books, desks, computers, science equipment, and teacher guidebooks. Tapping not only his department budget but also legislators’ pork barrels and even military funds, Lapus built 14,665 classrooms, more than double the 2007 target. Another 10,583 were repaired after calamities struck.
After each classroom rose, furniture and facilities followed. To fit the growing number of children in public schools, the DepEd made two class shifts per day of 50 pupils each. Others were seated in hundreds of private high schools. Thus began a massive solving of the classroom shortage in urban centers.
The book-to-pupil ratio has improved in recent years. But kinks still sprouted in the distribution from
Lastly, more than 16,000 new teachers were recruited. Old ones who were teaching, but are not majors of, Science, Math and English were sent back to universities for retooling. And since the best schools invariably are those led by the best principals, training the latter too in management became a priority in 2007.
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It happened before in Batangas. An election loser was able to get the Comelec head office to recount his votes. Before that, however, he paid off field personnel to stuff the impounded ballot boxes with fake forms and tallies, making him look the winner. Learning from history, Vice Gov. Mark Leviste is afraid the same modus operandi might be used on him. So he is begging the Comelec to stop the recount of the May 2007 votes that his rival Edwin Ermita has demanded.
The recount was just starting in Sto. Tomas and Balete towns when Leviste’s watchers noticed fraud. Some voters are wont to leave the ballot space for vice governor blank, and the numbers were duly recorded during the May counting. But in the recount, there were no more blanks, thus a discrepancy in the files. Worse, the name of his rival now appears in what apparently used to be blanks — in handwriting very different from the rest of the ballot entries. At the rate the new entries were surfacing, it was likely Leviste’s cozy lead of 19,000 votes in May would be wiped out.
Aside from pleading for a halt, Leviste also had to ask the members of the Comelec division handling the case to inhibit. Allegedly Resurreccion Borra, Felix Brawner and Moslemen Macarambon acted with bias against him. That’s because, Leviste’s lawyers Pete Cuadra and Sixto Brillantes suspect, rival Edwin is the son of the second most powerful official in the government: Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. Even if no influence peddling occurred, the Comelec officials need to explain just the same why they ordered a recount too quickly. Of the 35 election protests, the Leviste vs Ermita case is No. 33 and the officials have yet to work on the first 32. Too, they began the recount even though Ermita had not yet deposited the full P4.8 million they themselves had ordered him to pay in recount costs.
