The 2024 national budget was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. (PBBM, as he is popularly referred to) last December 20, 2023. Outside of protracted deliberations on the allocation of so-called “confidential funds” to various agencies of government, there did not seem to be any significant hitches. The hearings at both upper and lower houses of Congress were smooth, as were the bicameral discussions to reconcile their respective versions. Our legislative budget process is far from perfect, but it gets done.
The 2024 budget of 5.768 trillion is 9.5% higher than the previous year. The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) stated that government spending has been a major driver of the economy in recent years. In 2019, fiscal expenditures accounted for around 22%. This rose dramatically during the COVID years especially in 2021 when it exceeded 27% of GDP, mainly due to purchases of vaccines. It has dropped and in this year is expected to revert to a pre-COVID level of 21.7%.
The NEDA also noted that the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) allocates the highest budget to the Social Services and Economic Services Sectors in line with the Marcos Administration’s commitment to alleviating poverty, promoting infrastructure and human capital development, and steering the nation towards a higher growth trajectory. Among the government agencies, the Department of Education was allocated the highest budget of PHP924.7 billion, closely followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways with PHP822.2 billion.
As mandated by the 1987 constitution, education was given the biggest share of the 2024 budget. Senator Sonny Angara, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said that education remains the top priority for spending. The increased allocation to related agencies is aimed at supporting initiatives to make educational opportunties more available and accessible to more Filipinos. However, while the 924.7 billion pesos in the 2024 GAA is an increase of 3.2% over 2023, the increase is lower than the overall increase of 9.5% in the national budget. I was hoping for a more significant increase in education spending but, admittedly, the government is in a hard place to balance other national priorities such as food security, infrastructure and defense.
I believe that education is a primary responsibility of government. This cannot be passed on to the private sector the way that – arguably – food production and infrastructure might be. Every Filipino has a right to education, and it is the most important legacy of society to its people. It is at the core of social, economic and political development. Education is a crucial element to a sustainable future.
In my youth, I would sometimes hear that the Philippines had among the highest literacy rates in the world (I took it for gospel) and it made me proud. I assumed that literate was equivalent to educated. It is not. Literacy is simply defined as a person who is able to read and write a simple message in any language or dialect. In fact, literacy in the Philippines was at 83% back in 1980, peaked at 98% in 2015 and was last reported at 96% in 2019. It may have been a good enough indicator toi measure the readiness of our people decades ago but is, surely, far from adequate in a globalized world.
In the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) – a global study conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – the Philippines ranked dismally. The study evaluates the academic performance of 15-year-old students in reading, math and science – every three years. The Philippines ranked 6th from the last for math and reading. For science, we ranked 3rd from the last of the 81 countries surveyed.
In 2018 – the first year that we participated in PISA – we were ranked lowest in reading and 2nd lowest in math and science. It can be argued that we have improved in our ratings, but the scores belie this. Our math scores increased nominally from 353 to 355; for reading it rose from 340 to 347; and for science it dropped from 357 to 356. Our scores are also way below the global averages of 472, 476, and 485 for math, reading and science, respectively.
It is ironic that our proficiency levels are so low when, as a matter of fact, Filipinos are widely accepted around the world for our competence and diligence in various fields – accountancy, nursing, Information Technology, pharmacy, hospitality and management. Perhaps, it is reflective of the brain drain afflicting the country where our best and brightest shine beyond our shores than in our own land.
I believe that there is so much we can – and need to – do to improve our education levels. The Filipinos are avid learners – given the chance. Government must lead and the private sector will surely lend its support.
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