Int’l educators meet to compare education costs

Amb. Preciosa S. Soliven, secretary-general of the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines, spearheads the organization of the Sub-Regional Workshop on Costs of Primary and Secondary Education in the Southeast Asian Region in cooperation with the UNESCO Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) Paris.

With Soliven are members of the UNESCO Education Committee: Commission on Higher Education Director Ethel Agnes Valenzuela, DepEp Region I Director Vilma Labrador and DepEd Director for Alternative Learning Carolina Guerrero.

To be held from today up to Jan. 20 at the Linden Suites Hotel in Ortigas Center, Pasig City, the activity will include field trips to observe both administrative and financial management of public and private schools in San Juan and Marikina City, as well as full-day workshops.

Dr. Fe Hidalgo, officer-in-charge of the Department of Education, will deliver the keynote address, while Dr. Serge Peano, program specialist from UNESCO-IIEP, will present the global perspective of cost analysis of education and a case study on France. Meantime, the Philippine case study will be presented by DepEd Assistant Secretary Dr. Lilia Roces, National Statistics Coordination Board secretary-general Mr. Romulo Virola Jr., and TESDA Director Irene Isaac.

This workshop is a follow-up to two previous UNESCO IIEP Sub-Regional Workshops: "Intensive Training Course on Educational Costs, Finance and Budgetary Procedures in the Developing East Asian Countries" in 2001; and the "Seminar on Government Regulation of Private Education in East Asia" in 2003. Whether financing or government regulation, these contribute to the administrative part of school management that will convert non-performing schools to more effective institutions.

These series of sub-regional activities are in response to the EFA Dakar 10-year findings that the attempt to access universal education to elementary and high school students did improve enrollment, but quality is still missing in Basic Education. The implementation of the Education for All (EFA) goals requires accurate data on actual cost per pupil in primary education — necessary for optimal planning, managing and financing of schools and in the formulation of educational policies. The workshop will focus on the administration of schools so that the public will better understand that excellence in education depends on good administrative management.

Education planning and finance officers, as well as senior researchers from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines will share and compare common challenges, common problems and effective solutions to mobilize the technical and financial resources in achieving the EFA 2015 targets. Local participants include planning and finance officers as well as managers from the DepEd, DBM, NEDA, House of Representatives, as well as school administrators from both the public and private education.

For more information, please contact Ms. Helen Sophia Balderama at 834-4818; 834-4887, 834-3447 or e-mail [email protected].