MANILA, Philippines—The country’s next leader “must be an education president.”

This was stressed Monday by prominent business and civic leaders behind “Education Nation,” a national movement for education reforms.

Launched on the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City, the movement will “use the 2010 elections as a springboard for its advocacy.” It, however, did not have anybody in mind as an ideal successor to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“We’re not promoting a particular [presidential candidate],” said Dr. Chito Salazar, president of the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) and Education Nation coordinator.

But the group said in a manifesto that “our next president must be one who shall lead a sustained reform effort with learning and the learner at the center, one who shall appoint education managers who truly understand the education system and are committed to genuine reform, and one who can create the conditions for our educators to perform better, aspire higher and deliver continuous improvements.”

According to PBEd chair Ramon del Rosario Jr., “if there is one objective that I hope Education Nation can deliver immediately, it is … to stop the corruption in the public school system … If we can do this within the administration of the next government, then quality education for all will not be too far an aspiration.”

In a statement, the PBEd asserted: “Our government must become an education government that makes education the national priority and key strategy to combat poverty, that provides the needed resources for the right inputs, and that ensures transparency and accountability in education governance and financing.”

It added that education “is the most powerful means out of poverty, ignorance, exclusion and war … [but] the Philippine education system cannot be left to government alone as it takes a village to raise a child.”

However, since 1970, education reform “has failed to deliver the desired and sustained learning objectives as reform efforts have largely been projectized and crisis-response driven,” it said, noting that “politics has often been the bane of education reform as political considerations have poisoned education policies and decisions time and time again.”

Frustrating situations

During the UP forum, Del Rosario recalled that when the PBEd first began consulting with education experts in 2006, including NGO leaders, government representatives and academicians, the idea of forming a broad education movement was proposed and welcomed.

As the PBEd moved on with its efforts to become the voice of business in education reform and policy, Del Rosario said the members had to deal with frightening situations:

• Many children had no classrooms, textbooks and qualified teachers, yet the government wanted to use P24.6 billion to finance a cyber education project.

• Schools, principals and teachers were always complaining of lack of funds for training, while large pools of funds for technical assistance from donor agencies were largely left untapped.

• A continuing gap in the number of classrooms persisted even as appropriations in the budget for school buildings were often underutilized.

Medium of instruction

• Malacañang executive orders and bills in Congress insisted on English or Filipino as medium of instruction, while local and global research showed that mother tongue instruction in the early years was the best way to help Filipino children learn.

• Effective, school-based nutrition programs were being replaced by rice distribution or “enriched noodle” feeding that were proven ineffective and corruption-prone.

• Funds were released for research and training in private education assistance programs with nothing to show.

“The list goes on,” Del Rosario said.

One voice

Business groups “understand only too well the frustration of seeing precious funds wasted or simply stolen while we scrounge for resources to motivate teachers, print more useful workbooks and develop better learning environments,” Del Rosario said.

“Should we go on helping the public school system when we are simply plugging gaps created by waste and corruption?”

Del Rosario expressed hope that “from this day forward, we will not hear many voices for learning and the learner … We need one voice for education. Let that voice be Education Nation.”

PBEd founders

The other PBEd founders include business heavyweights, like Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, Manuel V. Pangilinan, Aurelio Montinola III, Rizalino Navarro, Jose Cuisia Jr., Paul Dominguez, Jose Pardo, Oscar Hilado, Monico Jacob, Oscar Lopez, George Yang, Tony Tan Caktiong, Placido Mapa Jr., Warner Manning, Magdaleno Albarracin and Washington SyCip.

The PBEd technical working group consists of former Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus and Undersecretary Juan Miguel Luz, and educators Lydia Echauz, Peter Laurel, Patricia Licuanan and Bro. Armin Luistro.

Over 30 other groups have expressed full support for Education Nation. These included the Foundation for Worldwide People Power, League of Corporate Foundations, Asian Institute of Management Policy Center, Asia Foundation, Ayala Foundation, Catholic Education Association of the Philippines, Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities, Metrobank Foundation, National Institute for Policy Studies, Philippine Business for Social Progress, Synergeia Foundation, Youth Vote Philippines, Management Association of the Philippines and UNICEF. (Inquirer News Service)