1. “Moving Forward the Reform Agenda”
11 September 2008
A pleasant afternoon to my former colleagues, distinguished legislators and fellow workers in government.
We are pleased to present the Department of Education’s proposed expenditure plan for FY 2009 with the theme “Moving Forward the Reform Agenda” consistent with our Philippine Education For All National Plan of Action 2015.
The Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda or BESRA is a road map to instituting policy reforms in the basic education and gives a deliberate focus on the schools and the communities towards attaining an efficient and effective delivery of basic education services to our Filipino learners.
FY 2009 Budget
“Moving Forward the Reform Agenda”

2. Presentation Outline Coverage
Major Challenges Confronting Basic Education
Thrusts and Strategies
Proposed Budgets
Priority Legislative Agenda

3. Coverage: 88% of the total enrolment are in Public Schools
= 1
Central Office
= ARMM
Regional Office
= 195
Enrolment*, SY
Schools Division Offices
12,304,207 +
= 37,807
62%
Public Elem. Schools
1,092,781 +
= 6,664 5%
Private Elem. Schools
26%
= 5,110
5,126,459 +
An important consideration when appreciating the Department’s proposed budget is to know the magnitude of its most precious clients, the learners, as they will drive the resources that we will require for the ensuing years.
Of the total 19.9 million children enrolled in our system last school year, 88% (17.4M) are in the public school system, consisting of 42,917 public elementary and secondary schools while the remaining 12% (2.4M) are enrolled in 11,056 private schools nationwide.
If we account for the enrolment of preschools and the ALS programs this SY, learners in basic education will exceed the 21 million mark.
Preschool Enrolment – million
Elementary Enrolment – million
Secondary Enrolment – million
Alternative Learning – million
Total million
Public High Schools 7%
= 4,392
1,332,846 +
Private High Schools
= 53,973
19,856,293 =
*Public Enrolment does not include SUCs data (Source: BEIS-SSM)

4. Challenges: Preparing 5 Year- Olds for Formal Instruction
Low readiness rate of Grade 1 entrants due to absence of preschool experience
High cost of privately-provided preschool education
The first serious challenge pertains to the need to prepare 5 year-olds for formal instruction. Worldwide studies point to preschool education as the best foundation to make children and their parents love schooling. Thus, if a child has a favorable preschool experience, chances are great that they can complete the 10-year basic education cycle.
The Grade 1 readiness rate is only 40% however. These 40% immediately proceed to Grade 1 work at the start of the school year. On the other hand, for the 60% of Grade 1 entrants who are not yet ready, they must undergo an 8-week crash course on preschool education.
Presently, DepED is constrained from expanding public preschool education because it is not yet part of the 10-year basic education ladder. Thus, we continue to support day care centers and private preschools, though increasing, are either costly and/or providing doubtful quality in most cases.

5. Challenges: Increasing Participation by reaching the unschooled
Our 2nd challenge is increasing school participation rate. This slide shows high participation among children aged 7-11, while less than half of 6 year-olds enrolled in the system. This graph tells us that some 2.2 million children aged 6-11 years are not availing of any form of elementary education, despite its being free and compulsory as guaranteed by our Constitution. It is encouraging to note that the participation rate improved from 83% in SY to 85% in SY07-08. SY

6. Challenges: Retaining those in schoolSY to SY
The 3rd challenge is retaining those in school, particularly those at risk of falling out of the system. They are the ones who encounter difficult circumstances in life – poverty, cases of teenage pregnancies, student laborers, children whose parents were poorly schooled, slum dwellers, families who live in areas with peace and order problems and learners with various forms of disabilities - that their stay in school is so fragile that they face the risk of falling out, sooner or later.
As you can see in the diagram, within 14 years cycle (i.e., from elementary to tertiary, ), of the 100 students who enrolled in Grade 1, only 67 students reached First year high school and 48 of which graduated HS. Of these HS Graduates, only 23 reached college level and 17 earned college degrees.
We need to arouse their interest towards learning, or make schooling interesting for them. We need a combination of interventions that will keep them attending school despite the odds.

7. Grade 6 National Achievement Test, in MPS
Challenges: Raising the proficiency level of those in school
Grade 6 National Achievement Test, in MPS
The 4th challenge is how to raise the proficiency level of the school children already in school. While it is encouraging to see an increase in the number of Grade 6 pupils who have higher mastery of English, Science and Math which we all know are tool subjects for learning, we are aware that much is to be desired. Nonetheless, we are hopeful that this will be the start of an even better mix of resources and expertise in the future. With your support, we intend to ramp up these numbers further, given the host of interventions that we have laid out.
We wish to note that the 1,898 elementary schools that performed poorly in the 2006 National Achievement Test, are now reduced to 391 schools or 21%. We hope to reduce this number even further, as we increase the level of proficiency of the rest in the system.
MPS-Mean Percentage Score

8. Challenges: Raising the proficiency level of those in school10 20 30 40 50 60
SY 06-07
8.18
49.17
38.72
3.92
SY 07-08
3.67
41.7
49.08
5.53
0.01
Low Mastery
Average
Mastery
Moving
Towards
Closely
Approximating
Mastered
This graph illustrates our performance gains at the elementary level. Notice the shift of the bell curve from average mastery to moving towards mastery. We expect that by next year, with your support, the blue trend line will further move towards mastery level. 8

9. Key Performance Indicators, Public & Private, in %
Challenges: Increasing internal efficiency & effectiveness
Key Performance Indicators, Public & Private, in %
The is our 5-year Report Card, both actual and planned for elementary and secondary education. As you are aware, these indicators are greatly influenced by socio-economic factors, notably poverty and health, which DepEd tries to overcome through our various interventions.
Despite these harsh realities, the trends in the four key indicators are encouraging because improvements though modest, remain steady over the years. Participation, cohort and completion rates in both elementary and secondary levels posted an increasing trend over the last 3 years. Likewise, dropout rates steadily declined. We expect this momentum to continue given enough support and resources for teaching and learning.
SY Participation Rate is based on preliminary enrolment report

10. Key Performance Indicators from DepED Programs
Challenges: Increasing internal efficiency & effectiveness
Key Performance Indicators from DepED Programs
On addressing the educational needs of learners aged 16 and above through the Alternative Learning System, our program is also posting modest improvements in the percentage of completers since As of last year, of the 147,138 learners who enrolled in the program, 75% or 110,354 successfully completed the course and we are targeting more completers for the coming years.
Accreditation & Equivalency is DepED’s contribution to giving better chances to our out-of-school youths and adults (estimated at 10.5 million of years old group in 2003). We accredit the learning they gained outside of the formal school system, into either elementary or secondary. An example of this is the case of Manny Pacquiao. Notice that the percentage of A&E test passers for the last 3 years are quite low but increasing. Of the 29% who passed accreditation, 77% of them (22,354 learners) underwent DepED’s literacy cum livelihood programs. The rest are walk in test takers.
We deliver alternative learning services in coordination with the LGUs, the NGOs, private sector and civil society groups. Notice our modest target coverage as this is purely DepED’s input.

11. Challenges: Meeting the enrolment increases *
The last challenge we confront year after year is how to address the gaps in crucial resources driven by ever-increasing public school enrolment. We estimate that by FY 2009, some 18.6 million enrolees will troop to the public schools. This number is 2.85% higher than the current SY enrolment, or an addition of new 515,386 children for whom DepEd must provide basic resources for learning.
* Public only
** Projected

12. 2009 Estimated Requirements
This the first of two slides show the resource requirements for 2009.
Classrooms. For public elementary and secondary schools, the estimated classroom requirements at the beginning of the school year is 7,087 based on 1 classroom per 45 students at double shift. With the P3.6B under the 2009 NEP, only 5,538 classrooms will be addressed, leaving 1,549 classrooms unfunded requirements for basic education and 2,667 classrooms for preschool.
School Seats. School furniture needs to be provided to every classroom that will be built. Our estimates indicate some 4.1 million units of school furniture worth P4.1 billion will be required to meet enrolment increments, as well as replace damaged stocks. The net unfunded requirement will be 3M units worth P3 billion.
Teachers. We also need 39,762 new items, consisting of 33,629 to meet the requirements for Red and Black Schools, and 6,133 for the needs of special groups (alternative learning, special education, preschool and Madrasah). A net shortage of 29,762 items will result by end of school year,. The dramatic jump in numbers is due to the significant increase in enrolment, resulting from our efforts to increase participation rate.

13. 2009 Estimated Requirements
Principals. In August 2006, I learned that 61% of our public schools are without legitimate heads. This made me work for the creation of principal items to pave the way for effective school-based management which is the main thrust of our reform agenda called BESRA. We created 890 new items in 2006, 1,097 in 2007, and 3,418 items in In 2009, we are proposing the creation of 8,499 new principal items.
Textbooks. We need 63.2 million copies to meet the requirements for enrolment increase, replacement of damaged books and to provide non-core textbooks and other reference materials.
Collectively taken, our total requirement for these five major items alone amounts to P16.45 billion. Since the FY 2009 NEP will provide some P8.61 billion, we are still left with P7.84 billion unaddressed requirements. We trust that this august body can help augment our resources to improve the quality of basic education in this country.

14. Challenges: Increase funding in basic education
While DepED’s budget has been increasing steadily from 2001 to 2008, we believe that the increase in the DepED budget should at least be at par with that of the national budget. For FY 2009, the national budget grew by 15.3%, while DepED’s only increased by 12.5%.
N.B. The FY 2009 data refers to NEP level.

15. Challenges: Increase funding in basic education
According to World Bank, if the country wants to attain quality education for all, the average share of education budget in developing countries should not be lower than 20%. This slide shows that we are still not close to the international benchmark even if we net out debt service.
Comparing DepED’s budget against GDP will show that the average share from 2001 to 2007 ranges from 2.12% %, while international standards place it at 6% of GDP according to UNESCO.
Average Share of Education Budget Per EDCOM Report of ’s : 29% 1970’s : 11% 1980’s : 13% 1990’s : 13%

16. Thrusts and Strategies
Expanding opportunities for preschool education
Increasing the number of DepED preschool classes
Increasing resources for Service Contracting Scheme
Providing financial assistance to PTCA-organized preschools
Tightening standards for private preschools
Increasing pupil participation by reaching the unschooled
Strict implementation of “no collection” and “no uniform” policies
Implementation of Distance Learning Program, Alternative Learning and Inclusive Education
Implementation of Balik-Paaralan Para sa Out of School Youth and Adults (BP-OSA)
Basic Madrasah Education
Dropout Reduction Program
Family Mapping
Student Tracking System of the Child-Friendly School System
Given the foregoing challenges, the thrusts and strategies are the following:
We will continue to expand opportunities for preschool education. Of the total 5 years old of 2.3 Million across the country, only 1.1 Million have access to preschool education. The remaining 1.2 million are supposedly the beneficiaries of our proposed P4 Billion budget for preschool. However, with the P1 Billion preschool budget provided in the 2009 NEP, it will be impossible to attain this target.
In terms of increasing pupil participation, DepED is tightening the implementation of the “No collection” and “no uniform” policies to encourage less fortunate children to enroll and stay in school. DepEd is likewise sustaining the programs that would keep school children in school and at the same time, address the educational needs of Out-of-school Youth. In sum, we want to make the public schools child-seeking so that no Filipino child will be left out.

17. Thrusts and Strategies
3. Raising the proficiency level of those in school
On-going refinement of Basic Education Curriculum
Every Child a Reader Program (ECARP)
Project Turning Around
Competency-Based Student Assessment
4. Focusing on human resource development
Adoption of National Competency-Based Teacher Standard
Certificate and Diploma programs for Non-Major Teachers
Training Programs for English, Science and Math Teachers
Training programs for Teaching Related and Non-Teaching Personnel
Local and International Training Program/Scholarships
5. Improving the health and nutritional condition of school children
Regular School Feeding Program
Regular Medical and Dental Services to Students
To sustain the gains in raising the proficiency level of children, we continue to refine the curriculum to make it more relevant; strengthen the Every Child a Reader Program to make sure that all school children entering Grade 4 can read and comprehend; continue the implementation of the Project Turning Around Low Performance in English which provides a package of interventions for teachers, students and for the entire school and continue with the competency-based student assessment.
DepED is deliberately changing certain policies to restore the glory accorded to teachers in this country. Guided by BESRA, we are enforcing competency-based hiring, deployment and promotion, as opposed to credentialism. We will continue providing relevant training and scholarship opportunities to teachers specially to non-majors to improve content and pedagogy. We will continue building up a cadre of capable and child-friendly support personnel through professional development activities.
We are reinforcing what we have started during the past years to ensure that students are provided with basic nutritional needs while in school through intensified feeding program, and together with their teachers, avail of regular Medical, Nursing, Dental and Optical Services.

18. Thrusts and Strategies
6. Addressing crucial resource requirements
Expansion of Education Service Contracting & Education Voucher System
Rationalization of MOOE allocation to schools, divisions and regions
Construction of classrooms, and provision of furniture, teachers, principal items and textbooks
Optimizing various sources, including Official Development Assistance
7. Providing new resources for learning
Provision of School Grant
Additional MOOE for Specialized Schools
Science and Tech-Voc Equipment, Laboratories and Workshops
Computerization Program
8. Strengthen public-private partnership
Adopt-A-School Program
Brigada Eskwela
We will continue to expand ESC and EVS to provide more education opportunities to poor but deserving students. We want to increase the number of grantees from 629,032 to 668,206 slots. For NCR, we are increasing the amount per student from PhP5,000 to PhP10,000 to meet the standard in the Metropolis. Further, DepEd will soon adopt a new MOOE formula that will consider the different and difficult circumstances of our schools.
To provide Principal position to headless schools, we got the approval of DBM for the conversion of 1,818 Head Teacher positions into Principal I position to narrow down the gaps for principal items. We still need to create more item to fully implement the School-Based Management System.
The donor community continue to support our reform agenda by providing additional resources to accelerate the implementation of our reform agenda
We will also be providing school grants to eligible schools to implement their School Improvement Plans; additional MOOE to schools offering special programs (e.g. special education, science, math, technical and vocational, arts and sports, multi-grade). Additional classrooms, science and math equipment and laboratories, textbooks and school furniture will continue to be provided including the use of ICT to accelerate development in our public schools, both for teaching, learning and training.
In support of our agenda, we have generated P5 billion in pledges and commitments from the private sector through our Adopt-A-School Program and also gaining the support of our school communities through the Brigada Eskwela

19. Comparative Budget, 2008-2009 (P’000)
The proposed DepED Budget as reflected in the FY2009 National Expenditure Program is P167.9 billion which include the budgets of four attached agencies. This represents a 13% increase as opposed to 74% increase DepED proposed during the budget preparation stage to address the challenges we are facing.

20. Comparative Budget by Expense Type (P’000)
Allocation by Expense Type
2008
GAA
2009
NEP
Inc/Dec from previous FY
Personal Services (PS)
114,768,931
136,820,994
19%
Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE)
21,732,212
20,268,105
-7%
Capital Outlay (CO)
12,746,042
10,852,870
-15%
TOTAL
149,247,185
167,941,969
13%
In absolute amounts, the MOOE and CO have been reduced significantly which is anticipated to create a negative impact on our operations. In fact, even if the 2009 NEP reflects a P19 billion increase, this amount will be eaten up by our payrolls. We believe that our MOOE and CO are far worse that the 2008 scenario.

21. Percent Share of PS, CO and MOOE to DepED Budget
This is a historical data which clearly show the trends of DepED budget in terms of allocation by expense type. The graph show that we have been posting a steady increase in the share for CO and MOOE since 2005 and reduced substantially the proportion of PS until the current level. The proposed 2009 NEP would again reduce the share of CO and MOOE due to the 19% increase in PS which is higher than the 13% increase in the overall DepED budget.
The decrease in non-salary expenses is a big blow in our effort to sustain our momentum in improving the sector performance as less resources will become available for developmental activities. We have been deliberately reducing the share of PS to ensure more resources for operations and developmental activities. However, the 2009 NEP would mean less resources for operation due to the substantial decrease in CO and MOOE share, while the PS share will increase.

22. Trends in Personal Services, FY 2005-2009
PROPOSED
NEP
In terms of absolute number, the succeeding slides would tell you the trends of DepEd budget by object of expenditure. Notice that while we want to reduce the proportion of PS, but in absolute terms, we are actually increasing it.

23. Trends in Capital Outlay and MOOE, FY 2005-2009 (in PB)
In terms of CO and MOOE, notice that we are succeeded in increasing the value until the current year and we want to sustained the trend. But with the current NEP, MOOE and CO again decreased substantially.
FY 2009 CO Proposed
FY 2009 MOOE Proposed

24. Priority Programs & Projects to address challenges
This slide shows our priority programs and projects to address the challenges discussed earlier. The budget for preschool as proposed in the 2009 NEP is practically not supportive of our thrust to expand the coverage of preschool education.
To dramatically increase school participation, we want to catch up in terms of integrating ICT in our curriculum. We need an aggressive stance in taking advantage of technology in education which requires relatively huge investment.
To sustain our gains in bringing our kids to the higher mastery level, we would like to request additional resources for training & development.
UNICEF study shows that children particularly in primary schools are performing poorly or dropping out due to poor health. Given this, we would like to request for more resources for health and nutrition to minimize absences and reduced dropout incidence.

25. Priority Programs & Projects to address challenges
In terms of addressing crucial resource requirements, please note that of the Php 28.5 billion proposed budget, only Php10.8 Billion will be given based on 2009 NEP.
Our public school system has been the subject of criticism due to inability of government to provide standard water and sanitation facilities, enough textbooks and supplementary materials, teacher items, furniture and school buildings. As discussed in the previous slides, we want to close these gaps next school year.
You all know that Philippines is prone to calamities and natural disasters. Our current level of Quick response fund of 300 Million is too small to address the annual requirements for rehabilitation and repairs after every calamities. For Cosme and Frank alone, the total requirements to fully address the damaged has reached 1.4 Billion pesos. This fund is very important to minimize class disruptions after calamities. We want to increase this fund from 300 M to 2 Billion

26. Priority Programs & Projects to address challenges
We are very thankful to DBM for approving most of our requirements for new resources for learning except for laboratories and equipment.
Again, our public school system has been the subject of criticism by caused oriented groups and other organizations for inability of the government to provide complete package science laboratories and computer laboratories to improve learning outcomes . These facilities are crucial if we want to improve our performance. In our original proposal, we want to close these gaps particularly in secondary level. .

27. Priority Programs and Projects to address challenges
To continue our achievement in our Adopt A School Program, we humbly request an increase in the operations budget of our Adopt a School Secretariat at least based on our proposal would mean more and more assistance from Private sector would come in.
While we are trying to improve the delivery of basic education to our main clients – students and teachers, we are also concerned in improving the support system and governance. We want to strengthen our research mechanism for us to formulate research based policies and standards.

28. Legislative Agenda
Institutionalization of Preschool Education in the Education Cycle
Providing Additional Support and Compensation for Educators in Basic Education
Revision of Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (RA 4670)
Amendments to “Roxas Law” (RA 7880)
Amendments to Local Government Code: Special Educ. Fund
Amendments to GSIS Law (RA 8291)
National Career Assessment Exam (NCAE)
Pre-School: The Department believes that making preschool part of the education ladder will enhance pupil learning and school retention, especially in the early years.
Additional Support: This bill seeks to upgrade the teachers’ salaries to the level being received by uniformed personnel of the PNP and AFP.
Magna Carta: Through this bill, DepED wish to increase the benefits of more than 600,000 DepED employees nationwide which is long overdue, underpaid, and underprivlaged.
Roxas Law: This law need to be amended to allow DepED flexibility to periodically adjust or modify the allocation to meet the requirements of construction and maintenance.
Local Government Code: DepED seeks to increase the SEF from 1% to 2% of real property tax collections and to expand the purposes and composition of the fund to support the thrust of DepED
GSIS: The DepED seeks to increase representation in the 10-man Board of Trustees of GSIS given that DepED personnel accounts for 40% of the GSIS active membership.

29. Investment in education is the best investment a country can ever make.
Thank you and have a good day!