How to lure donors to upgrade education

Let’s face it. Even if the government’s allocation for education remains the biggest slice of the budgetary pie, it will remain inadequate to meet the needs of our future generations of Filipinos. A large part of that budget covers overhead, salaries and related administrative expenses of the massive bureaucracy at Dep-Ed. There is little left over for teacher training and building the proper infrastructure – schoolhouses, computer labs or even just desks and chairs.

Apparently, the public school system in many parts of the United States has the same problem. This is why many school districts have become creative about how to get some of their badly needed facilities even if the taxpayers can no longer pitch in. An article in The New York Times reminded me of an early proposal of DTI Secretary Peter Favila in an MOPC Forum that we should explore the possibility of taxpayers spending directly for things like education and getting credit for it. It is a means of minimizing leakage in the bureaucracy.

In a sense that is already being done in the Ayala Group’s Center for Excellence (Centex) program, which is set to graduate their first batch of talented elementary school children from poor families. There is a real need to identify the bright pupils in our public schools and give them cutting edge education.

When one of my daughters practiced teaching in Balara Elementary School (as a prerequisite for graduation), she told me it was a pity to see a handful of bright pupils in a class of 80 being bored to death. I think it is an unpardonable crime to waste a good brain. And for these bright children from poor families, a good education is their ticket out of poverty.

It is interesting to note, as the Times article points out, that even a rich superpower can’t provide for its children’s education. This is why in some American public schools, they are experimenting with the Name Game, as a donor lure. In Fairmont Park in Philadelphia, they are set to inaugurate next fall, a stunning $55-million high school. According to the Times, it is for now, called the School of the Future, a state-of-the-art building with features like a Web design laboratory.

The Times article says it may turn out to be the school of the future in another sense, too: It is a public school being used to raise a lot of private money. A glossy brochure offers dozens of opportunities for donors to get their name or corporate logo on the walls: $1 million for the performing arts pavilion, $750,00 for the gyms or the main administrative suite (including the principal’s office), $500,000 for the food court/cybercafe, $50,000 for the science laboratories, $25,000 for each of the classrooms, and so on. Microsoft, a partner in designing the school, has already committed $100,000 for the Microsoft Visitors Center. For a cool $5 million, a donor gets the grand prize – naming the school.

Actually, that’s not such a new idea. The top business schools in the US have sold naming rights... Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University in Chicago, for one. Here, the Ateneo School of Management is officially known as the John Gokongwei School of Management, after the taipan donated a cool P250 million with the possibility of additional donations.

Perhaps, in the case of Balara Elementary School, Manila Water can use some of the P1 billion it saved by getting an extension of its tax free incentive this year to improve the facilities there, train teachers and even have a Centex there for the bright pupils. They can call it the Ayala/Balara Elementary School and that should be fine. Most likely, the pupils there are children of their employees or residents in the area around their head office. It makes for good employee and community relations.

The chief executive of the Philadelphia public schools told the Times he had no problems seeking private sector donations because 85 percent of the kids in the system are below the poverty level and their needs are beyond what they could get from the taxpayers. His approach he said, is "Leave No Dollar Behind", a play on the Bush administration’s controversial Leave No Child Behind program.

They do have a board that reviews prospective donations, weeding out undesirable donors, which includes alcohol and tobacco companies. Here, I guess we have to be careful that the donors do not include drug and jueteng lords. Big corporations should be encouraged to adopt specific public schools so that the impact of their financial infusion into the system is visible.

It seems this is a trend that is taking root. The Times reports that "over the last five years, public schools have become an increasingly popular cause for corporations, society donors and foundations. In New York, since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took control of the schools, he and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein have raised $311 million in private funds. The benefits are clear – new schools, new playgrounds and refurbished libraries."

The danger in this approach, however, is the blurring of responsibilities. With more private money going into public education, public officials may forget that public education is really a government responsibility. People must not forget that this is just an emergency measure for now, because we need to respond quickly to the crisis in education, even if it takes one company upgrading one school at a time.

Tourism

Our series of columns on tourism has really captured the imagination of our readers. Here’s another e-mail from Dr. RBJ.

Let us limit the discussion to resort tourism, since our cities will not be able to compete as a tourist mecca in the forseeable future. As you pointed out, our beaches are indeed world class (superior to MOST of Cote d’ Azur) and we have lots of sun to go along with beach activities. But are we capable of competing in this global market, intellectually and culturally?

Good access and upscale hotels would enhance tourism. But there are other items that need sober thinking. The No. 1 item in the average Pinoy’s touristic agenda is SHOPPING. The last, if at all, is SUNBATHING and other beach activities. It is the exact opposite for international tourists.

There are many successful resort destinations that started with hardly any tourist-oriented infrastructure. The Carribean, the Bahamas, and even some European resort destinations, like the islands of Greece, Italy, and Spain, started this way. l visited Aruba, when it had one road, which actually disappeared in parts! It is probably the rule rather than the exception. Indeed, the whole world is dotted with such tourist spots. Boracay is just one prime example. As far as l know, Boracay was just another sleepy town, UNTIL some Germans discovered it!

Tourism is just another consumer-oriented industry. Thus, we should focus on what the MARKET wants and NOT what we think the market wants, based on what WE like to do. The average Pinoy bureaucrat, who l imagine would qualify as an average PINOY international tourist, does not have a clue, INSPITE of Boracay.

And sure enough, the international tourists over there are slowly disappearing, even as the infrastructure and the world class hotels are appearing ever so slowly. Thankfully, the local market, particularly the youth, is taking over the slack. Predictably the beaches are somewhat empty of sunbathers, as compared to the average international resort or even the Boracay of 10 years ago.

However, Cocomangas and Pier One are jampacked, at night! Boracay has become another Libis or Greenbelt with a beach! That’s not necessarily wrong, but there is a message there. A message, that all the resort owners of the other tourist spots, you mentioned, do not get. Well, except for Puerto Galera. Thanks to the Aussies and at least one Danish-Italian.

Heaven and hell

Here’s how Dr. Ernie E sees heaven and hell in the age of globalization.

Heaven is when you have an American salary, a British home, Chinese food, a Swiss economy, an Italian body, Japanese technology, an African tool and a Filipina wife.

Hell is when you have an American wife, a British body, a Chinese tool, Swiss food, Italian technology, a Japanese home, an African economy and a Filipino salary.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected].