Senator and incoming Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara (Senate PRIB)

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte said incoming Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara must capitalize on the overwhelming support the latter received to attain adequate funding for the agency.

In a statement on Friday, July 5, Villafuerte said budgetary constraints in DepEd were largely responsible for the perennial shortage in classrooms, teachers, and school facilities.

These shortages have long undermined the quality of Philippine education, he said.

“As an education reform advocate for two decades now in the Congress, responsible for a slew of laws advancing the interests of our students and teachers, Secretary Sonny knows that a sea change for the better in the declining quality of our extended basic education—or K12 from Kindergarten to Grade 12—is contingent on wiping out the nagging shortages in teachers, classrooms and other school facilities responsible in large part for our learners turning out among the world’s top school underachievers,” said Villafuerte.

The ensuing skewed teacher-student ratios, he said, resulted in abysmal performances of Filipino learners as shown in the latest study of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Based on the PISA report, Filipino students were found to be underachievers in science, mathematics, and reading.

Villafuerte noted that instead of solving this issue, DepEd was intent on increasing its annual spending on the basis of the projected increase in enrollment per school year.

“We cannot radically improve the quality of basic education unless we are able to ensure first that our students have enough teachers to teach them and enough classrooms for them to study in,” he explained.

In this regard, the lawmaker is urging Angara to lobby Congress and Malacañan Palace for a higher budget to wipe out the shortage issue “in a single year or a few years at most”.

He noted that Angara has the “track record to win support” for higher funding from lawmakers in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

At the same time, Villafuerte said the outgoing senator could also generate more logistical support from the private sector, especially business groups and organizations that have backed Angara’s DepEd posting.

“The new secretary can capitalize on this goodwill or support to seek for higher aid from the business and NGO communities,” he continued.

Villafuerte is hoping that DepEd will hit a student-to-teacher ratio of 30 pupils per tutor—a significant change from the current ratio of about one teacher for every 40 students or higher.

Meanwhile, the current shortage in classrooms and teachers is about 165,000 and 80,000, respectively.

Angara will assume his post at the helm of DepEd on July 19.

He will be replacing Vice President Sara Duterte who earlier resigned, marking her exit from the Marcos Cabinet.