Editorial

By June 14, 2010Editorial, News

The “pork” for education

PUBLIC schools will re-open and welcome thousands of students this week for the start of a new academic year. The first day is usually fun and exciting. But the hard realities immediately hit once regular classes begin, with students cramped in classrooms, teachers having to cope with more than one shift and more students than are reasonably manageable, books and basic facilities such as toilets are lacking, and the laboratory and library materials are archaic.

This scenario is true in most parts of the country. Pangasinan faces the added challenge of having to deal with the impact of major typhoons and flooding in the last two years which left many school infrastructures devastated and education materials damaged.

The Department of Education, which has 2 divisions in Pangasinan plus another for Dagupan City, assure that they are doing everything they can within the resources that are available to them. Parents and communities, through the Brigada Eswkela, have also been generously giving their contribution to the maintenance and operations of schools. What our schools desperately need is serious funding.

From the national budget, there is not much to be expected because there would be too many other areas in the country that would be in greater need, especially if the basis that will be used for distribution is the DepEd’s Basic Education Information System where Pangasinan’s 2 divisions and Dagupan City register flying colors in such factors as pupil-teacher ratio, pupil-classroom ratio, and pupil-seating ratio.

But at the local level, our new set of incoming congressmen, five of whom are first-timers in the House of Representatives, can finally decide to channel most of their pork barrel for education initiatives. It would not just be for the construction of more classrooms in their districts, but also connecting schools to cyberspace for the benefit of both students and the enhancement of teacher skills, updating libraries, and granting more scholarships, among others.

Congressmen each have a P70 million pork barrel per year, or a total of P210 million for a three-year term. With six House Representatives, Pangasinan is entitled to P1.26 billion in the next three years. Even just a 40%  allocation — which would be equivalent to P504 million — of that can make a lot of difference for the future literacy rate and quality of education in the province.

Making education a priority is long overdue.

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