Government urged to redirect Cha-cha funds to boost education system

MANILA, Philippines — A teachers’ group has called on the government to prioritize increasing teachers’ wages and building new classrooms instead of allowing foreign ownership of schools through amendments to the Charter.

With the House of Representatives' recent second reading approval of Resolution of Both Houses 7 — which relaxes foreign ownership restrictions in basic and higher education, among other economic amendments — Alliance of Concerned Teachers Chairperson Vladimer Quetua said that the government should redirect its funds for Charter change to addressing its shortage of over 100,000 classrooms.

Quetua described the projected cost of holding a Charter change plebiscite as a “stark misallocation of resources” at a time when teachers and students are dealing with “overcrowded and inconducive learning environments." 

Both Charter change resolutions in the House and the Senate (Resolution of Both Houses 6) aim to relax foreign ownership restrictions in the education sector. Pro-Charter change lawmakers argue that the the amendments will attract more foreign universities to the country, but education experts are concerned that the Philippines’ reputation for diploma mill schools could instead bring in low-tier universities from abroad.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has been vocal about his support for economic amendments to the Charter, said that he would like the Charter change plebiscite to be synchronized with the 2025 midterm polls to cut down on costs.

“Even Marcos Jr. himself admits that holding a plebiscite for ChaCha is impractical and costly,” Quetua said.

“Instead of wasting time pushing for ChaCha, which will only expose our economy further to foreign interests, the Congress should prioritize legislation of bills on increasing wages, granting workers and employees the much-needed economic relief amid the crisis, and resolving the worsening learning loss,” he said.

The ACT chairperson also said that it was “appalling” that the budget for education is “being scrimped despite the enormity of backlogs and shortages.”

“Teachers and all other employees and workers are also being scrimped with measly wage increases and benefits, yet funds can be set aside and spent on ChaCha solely for the interests of foreign entities and a few in power,” Quetua said.

Similarly, Rep. Raoul Manuel (Kabataan Partylist) said that the government is “shirking its responsibility” of improving access to education by pushing to allow foreign investments in basic and higher education.

“Like the promised P20 per kilo of rice, this economic Cha-cha (charter change) of Marcos is another attempt to dupe people and the youth,” Manuel said in Filipino during a press conference on Thursday.

“We don’t believe in the promised quality education in opening up education to foreigners because quality and accessible education is the responsibility of the government. Education should be given sufficient funds and not left to foreigners,” he added.

In the same press conference, Quetua warned that proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution could worsen the “commercialization of schools.”

Quetua said that allowing 100% foreign-owned schools to operate here may lead to the closure of smaller schools and layoffs of their education personnel.

“It seems that the current administration is not alarmed with the worsening education crisis that we are facing,” he added.

Last year, the Department of Education (DepEd) fell short of its target for classroom construction, completing just 58% or 3,673 out of its goal of 6,379 new classrooms. 

Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte has set a slightly more conservative target this year of building at least 4,000 new classrooms by the end of the first semester of 2024.

A month before the start of the school year or in August 2023, DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas said that public schools were short of around 159,000 classrooms, which would require at least P397 billion in funding.

The Philippines has some of the lowest government expenditures per student at primary and secondary levels in the world, and smaller funding for education has hampered the ability of the education sector to improve students' learning competencies, according to a 2023 policy note by state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

To increase students' learning achievements, PIDS noted that the government must not only raise its budget for education, but also accompany this with "more effective and efficient use of available resources."