Senator Edgardo Angara yesterday called for a strong citizens lobby to prevent the further deterioration of Philippine education that, he said, has become a "ticking bomb."

We should pressure government to allocate a larger budget for education, to, among others, raise the starting salaries of teachers, he said.

Starting salaries of teachers should be raised from P8,000 to P15,000, he said, pointing out that many of the country's skilled teachers are being lured away by higher paying jobs abroad.

Government should also re-channel resources to training and retraining teachers in Math, Science and English - the foundation subjects of an information society, he said.

The failure of Congress to pass this year's national budget has prevented the government from hiring 10,000 new teachers, he also pointed out.

Angara was in Negros Occidental yesterday to speak before teachers from state colleges and universities in the Visayas attending a training program entitled "Investing in the Future" at the Nature's Village Resort in Talisay City.

INTELLECTUAL
CAPITAL SQUANDERED

"We have practically squandered our intellectual capital. Right now, based on achievement tests, a grade six graduate of our system has only the competence of a grade three pupil, and a high school graduate has the competence of a grade six pupil," he said.

That is why, in all international achievement tests, the Philippines is number two from the bottom, especially in Science and Math, he said.

In terms of competitiveness we are going down by at least 5 points every year, he said.

"That is a reflection of the fast deterioration of our educational standards both in public and private schools," he said.

The reason for that is, mainly, we do not spend enough for education compared to other Asian countries, he said.

"Our spending is second to the lowest in the ASEAN," he said.

TEACHERS LEAVING

Angara also pointed out that many of the country's trained teachers are going abroad.

In September last year he was in Washington and he met about 80 Science, Math and special education teachers from the Philippines at the Philippine Embassy there, he said.

They are the teachers with the skills that we badly need in this country, he said.

They were recruited by a school district in Maryland with an offer they could not refuse - permanent residency for the teachers and their entire families, contracts for three years, and, if they want to become US citizens, they can do so in three years, Angara said.

To top it all, the recruiting officer said another batch of 80 teachers from the Philippines with the same skills would also be going to the United States, he said.

In the past three years, almost 3,000 specialists teachers have left our country that is why we are so weak in Math and Science, he said.

BASKET CASE IN LITERACY

Many of those teaching Math and Science in our schools are not majors in those fields, and 75 percent of those teaching physics are not physics majors, he said.

If we continue to let our educational system slide, we will become a genuine basket case in terms of literacy and competitiveness, he said.

The three-day teachers training for the implementation of the National Service Training Program, where Angara spoke yesterday, was designed to empower schools and the youth for integral community service, HOPE Volunteers Foundation president Edith Villanueva said.*CPG

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