The messy governance of public schools
June 8, 2006 | 12:00am
Upon invitation of Lea Salonga, my husband, Max and I attended the premiere show of Miss Saigon at the Royal Theater at Covent Garden on Drury Lane. After their performance, Lea and the whole Miss Saigon cast did not sleep until three in the morning waiting for the early edition of the London dailies. They were very eager to know what the theater critiques wrote in praise or criticism of their performance. Max bought all the papers and they were all praises for Lea — just 19 years old and already a "pro".
Professionals welcome criticisms. Production such as this is very expensive. Individual tickets cost between US$70 to more than US$100. A bad review could close the show within a year or two. Changes are continuously done as director and the theater cast get their cue from regular reviews. So, Miss Saigon ran for more than five years even when Lea left for Broadway, New York.
This philosophy of ‘Error is a Friend’ should be embraced not only by professionals but by all Filipinos as well. The street word dyahe (how embarrassing) should not be part of our vocabulary. This article is therefore directed to professional education officials.
UNESCO Education Commissioner Dr. Vilma Labrador, also the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Education, gave me her end-of-travel report after their study visits on School Based Management (SBM) in Thailand.
She wrote that SBM is a laboratory of the Third Elementary Education project (TEEP), an initiative of the Department of Education to raise the level of student achievement. It is an administration system in which "the school is the primary unit of educational decision making. Responsibility for certain decisions about resolving challenges is placed at the school level, thereby GIVING PRINCIPALS AS WELL AS TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND PARENTS GREATER CONTROL OVER THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS. In 1998, TEEP started devolving Basic Education planning and implementation, administration and fund management to the division level. At present, the project is in the final stage of placing decision-making authority down to the real battlefield — at the schools."
I wonder how this could ever be effective when the principals cannot even perform well with their dual tasks of monitoring teachers, clerical work, as well as maintenance of school properties. They do not also evaluate teachers. Are teachers responsible enough? How about parents, most of those who can only afford public schools for their children who are often not functionally literate nor professionals? How can you leave the management decision of the school to them?
ASec. Labrador reported that "a total of 7,281 schools or 85 percent of the 8,613 TEEP schools are currently implementing SBM. Good practices or success stories have been documented describing how the components of SBM have improved pupil achievement in these schools. With barely four months till this 9-year education investment finally closes, efforts are now directed in ensuring that SBM doesn’t die a natural death, but will attain sustainability and eventually institutionalization."
Aside from Thailand, the DepEd officials also plan to go to China, Japan and Singapore for the purpose of equipping the participants with knowledge on factors that contribute to successful implementation of SBM focusing on "curriculum, resources, finance and funding mechanisms, external relations and leadership". International assessment of school organizations reveals that these countries are very much ahead of the Philippines.
What made Thailand and the other countries progress so fast in the field of education? It is simply because these countries have a culture of discipline such as Japan or a form of benevolent dictatorship like Thailand and Singapore or communism turned socialist capitalism like China and even Vietnam. Thus, they get things done. Sorry to say, but the Filipinos have been condemned to failure by divided and irresponsible leadership.
Quality education could draw out the best from the Filipino youth, but it is imperative that the public schools have professional administrators, finance and academic directors! The formula that could contribute significantly in raising the quality of education are the professional Academic, Administrative and Financial management of schools. (See chart above.)
In public schools, the principal remains a helpless authority figure. With a huge student population, responsibilities of the principal are awesome specially since she is not provided a full-time secretary. Today, these principals can no longer adequately supervise and continue training the teachers since her time is taken up looking after the various problems such as leaking roof, loose doorknobs and faucets, the flooding of classrooms due to poorly maintained drainage system, termite infestation eating away columns and foundations of the school building.
Administrative Management is a major element for it involves four major concerns: Personnel Management, Registrar Work and Environmental Care. The most crucial is Personnel Management, which is mainly responsible for recruitment, placement, personnel ranking and discipline. Registrar work is also important since a school will not survive without enrollment. Good rapport with parents must be always cultivated mostly by orientation meeting and encouraging their help to tutor their children. Meantime, Environmental Care involves the overall maintenance, sanitation, beautification and safety of the school premises.
The four major concerns in financial planning and management are the initial expenses, capital requirements and resources, as well as sources of income and profit. An accountant/bookkeeper is more practical to retain in the absence of a regular accountant. They are very useful for BIR matters, licenses and others.
Dr. Labrador stated in her report, "It is noteworthy to mention that there are SBM features also existing in Philippine schools." I wonder why they needed to go out of the country when they could have visited the Operation Brotherhood Montessori schools, as well as other private schools, which are run professionally. The public may think that my articles are self-serving but OB Montessori Center has been known as a learning laboratory for Education for Sustainable Development.
According to Dr. Labrador, "Another significant factor in the successful implementation of SBM in Thailand is its School Board, which is composed of 7 to 15 members who represent the parents, teachers, community organizations, local government units, alumni and scholars. The Board assists the school director in the approval of policies and budgetary requirements of the school, as well as the promotion of academic matters such as the development of curriculum, its teachers and educational personnel. They also help in the mobilization of resources for education, including the monitoring, appraisal and assessment of administrators and other school personnel."
I think that the School Board for public schools would be ineffective here in the Philippines unless the parents of public school children are literate as well as professionals who are employed with background in finance, education, administration and management.
According to the 2004-2005 data, there are 37,000 public grade schools and nearly 4,800 public high schools. If it were not for the help of private schools, it would be worse. There are nearly 4.700 private grade schools and about 3,400 private high schools.
UNESCO Education Commissioner Dr. Ethel Valenzuela, using DepEd statistics reports, Challenges in the Basic Education Sector - "The country prides itself in its high reported rate of adult basic literacy, 94.6 percent, a figure that exceeds even that of Singapore, Hong Kong, or Malaysia. Combined enrolment — the percentage of the school-age population enrolled in grade school, high school, or collegiate levels — is even more striking. On this score, the Philippines, with an enrolment rate of 82 percent out performs such richer countries as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Chile not to mention even Switzerland or Italy."
If the number of public school enrollees in Grade I is the basis of the enrollment rate of 82 percent, then this is bloated because almost half of Grade I pupils drop out in the middle of the year. The 1990 EDCOM survey of all schools has exposed the alarming drop-out rate of 40 percent of first graders due to the lack of monitoring and evaluation of schools, the mediocrity of teacher-training institutions, as well as the irrelevance of the Basic Education curriculum.
If there are 37,000 public elementary schools and only 4,800 public high schools receive the elementary school graduates, what happens to the other graduates? Even if half of them are successful graduates, we would need at least 16,000 more high schools.
In Europe, high school students are given technical training on their last two years of high school. They are given jobs as apprentices. It would be ideal if we try this for elementary school graduates so that they may become economically self-sufficient as caregivers or in kitchen work, etc. Just observe — it is actually happening and we have failed to train them. Unemployed, they become burdens to their poor parents and turn to drugs or thefts and ultimately become the menace of our society.
Tuition fees needed to provide for quality education
Dr. Labrador recounted, "The very high regard of parents for education is also seen as a very strong feature of the Thai educational system. The parents assist in the preparation of the food for the pupils, helping in the library, as well as active participation in other school activities. They also pay school fees ranging from 13,000 Baht to 19,000 Baht per child for one school year. This covers PERSONNEL FEE, insurance, luncheons and refreshments, as well as other developmental and student activities. Interesting to note, the collection of fees exist in all schools visited, BUT NO SCHOOL WAS EVER ‘CHARGED’ OF VIOLATING THE CHILD’S RIGHTS TO FREE AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION."
"The active involvement of Parents-Teachers Associations (PTA) and Alumni Associations in fund-raising activities of the school is also worth citing. In Srinakrarinwirot University, the school gained 5 to 10 million Baht per year from the PTA, which was used in constructing one of the school buildings."
Aside from Bangkok, Indonesia also allows parents’ contribution fees in their public schools. Singapore parents give token contribution, even if the government can afford to pay, it insists on this. This is a parental obligation and parents’ personal investment. They should not totally depend on the government.
Free education in the Philippines was possible in the late forties, when we had just gained our independence. Then, there were only 30 million Filipinos. Sixty years after, our population has nearly tripled and it would really be difficult for our National Budget to provide free schooling for all public grade school and high school students specially since 70 percent of our population are the poor who do not pay taxes.
How can a school run without finances? You cannot run a good school without money, thus it is necessary to require parents to pay certain fees. The Filipino parents should be reminded the necessity for them to give their counterpart to ensure quality education for their children.
DepEd secretary badly needed — to professionally manage the educational system of our country
For half a century we have allowed the deterioration of our educational system. It is about time we get a DepEd secretary who can professionally manage our educational system who will remove the dual tasks of principals and instead allow her to focus on the evaluation and monitoring of teachers. Then, he or she should put in the professional administrator to take care of finance, personnel, enrollment and environmental concerns.
It doesn’t matter whether they name Congressman Jesli Lapus or OIC Fe Hidalgo as the next Secretary of the Department of Education. Whoever sits as the next DepEd secretary should have an iron fist to put professionalism in place!
(For more information or reaction, please e-mail at [email protected]or [email protected])
Professionals welcome criticisms. Production such as this is very expensive. Individual tickets cost between US$70 to more than US$100. A bad review could close the show within a year or two. Changes are continuously done as director and the theater cast get their cue from regular reviews. So, Miss Saigon ran for more than five years even when Lea left for Broadway, New York.
This philosophy of ‘Error is a Friend’ should be embraced not only by professionals but by all Filipinos as well. The street word dyahe (how embarrassing) should not be part of our vocabulary. This article is therefore directed to professional education officials.
She wrote that SBM is a laboratory of the Third Elementary Education project (TEEP), an initiative of the Department of Education to raise the level of student achievement. It is an administration system in which "the school is the primary unit of educational decision making. Responsibility for certain decisions about resolving challenges is placed at the school level, thereby GIVING PRINCIPALS AS WELL AS TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND PARENTS GREATER CONTROL OVER THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS. In 1998, TEEP started devolving Basic Education planning and implementation, administration and fund management to the division level. At present, the project is in the final stage of placing decision-making authority down to the real battlefield — at the schools."
I wonder how this could ever be effective when the principals cannot even perform well with their dual tasks of monitoring teachers, clerical work, as well as maintenance of school properties. They do not also evaluate teachers. Are teachers responsible enough? How about parents, most of those who can only afford public schools for their children who are often not functionally literate nor professionals? How can you leave the management decision of the school to them?
ASec. Labrador reported that "a total of 7,281 schools or 85 percent of the 8,613 TEEP schools are currently implementing SBM. Good practices or success stories have been documented describing how the components of SBM have improved pupil achievement in these schools. With barely four months till this 9-year education investment finally closes, efforts are now directed in ensuring that SBM doesn’t die a natural death, but will attain sustainability and eventually institutionalization."
What made Thailand and the other countries progress so fast in the field of education? It is simply because these countries have a culture of discipline such as Japan or a form of benevolent dictatorship like Thailand and Singapore or communism turned socialist capitalism like China and even Vietnam. Thus, they get things done. Sorry to say, but the Filipinos have been condemned to failure by divided and irresponsible leadership.
Quality education could draw out the best from the Filipino youth, but it is imperative that the public schools have professional administrators, finance and academic directors! The formula that could contribute significantly in raising the quality of education are the professional Academic, Administrative and Financial management of schools. (See chart above.)
In public schools, the principal remains a helpless authority figure. With a huge student population, responsibilities of the principal are awesome specially since she is not provided a full-time secretary. Today, these principals can no longer adequately supervise and continue training the teachers since her time is taken up looking after the various problems such as leaking roof, loose doorknobs and faucets, the flooding of classrooms due to poorly maintained drainage system, termite infestation eating away columns and foundations of the school building.
The four major concerns in financial planning and management are the initial expenses, capital requirements and resources, as well as sources of income and profit. An accountant/bookkeeper is more practical to retain in the absence of a regular accountant. They are very useful for BIR matters, licenses and others.
Dr. Labrador stated in her report, "It is noteworthy to mention that there are SBM features also existing in Philippine schools." I wonder why they needed to go out of the country when they could have visited the Operation Brotherhood Montessori schools, as well as other private schools, which are run professionally. The public may think that my articles are self-serving but OB Montessori Center has been known as a learning laboratory for Education for Sustainable Development.
I think that the School Board for public schools would be ineffective here in the Philippines unless the parents of public school children are literate as well as professionals who are employed with background in finance, education, administration and management.
UNESCO Education Commissioner Dr. Ethel Valenzuela, using DepEd statistics reports, Challenges in the Basic Education Sector - "The country prides itself in its high reported rate of adult basic literacy, 94.6 percent, a figure that exceeds even that of Singapore, Hong Kong, or Malaysia. Combined enrolment — the percentage of the school-age population enrolled in grade school, high school, or collegiate levels — is even more striking. On this score, the Philippines, with an enrolment rate of 82 percent out performs such richer countries as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Chile not to mention even Switzerland or Italy."
If the number of public school enrollees in Grade I is the basis of the enrollment rate of 82 percent, then this is bloated because almost half of Grade I pupils drop out in the middle of the year. The 1990 EDCOM survey of all schools has exposed the alarming drop-out rate of 40 percent of first graders due to the lack of monitoring and evaluation of schools, the mediocrity of teacher-training institutions, as well as the irrelevance of the Basic Education curriculum.
If there are 37,000 public elementary schools and only 4,800 public high schools receive the elementary school graduates, what happens to the other graduates? Even if half of them are successful graduates, we would need at least 16,000 more high schools.
In Europe, high school students are given technical training on their last two years of high school. They are given jobs as apprentices. It would be ideal if we try this for elementary school graduates so that they may become economically self-sufficient as caregivers or in kitchen work, etc. Just observe — it is actually happening and we have failed to train them. Unemployed, they become burdens to their poor parents and turn to drugs or thefts and ultimately become the menace of our society.
Dr. Labrador recounted, "The very high regard of parents for education is also seen as a very strong feature of the Thai educational system. The parents assist in the preparation of the food for the pupils, helping in the library, as well as active participation in other school activities. They also pay school fees ranging from 13,000 Baht to 19,000 Baht per child for one school year. This covers PERSONNEL FEE, insurance, luncheons and refreshments, as well as other developmental and student activities. Interesting to note, the collection of fees exist in all schools visited, BUT NO SCHOOL WAS EVER ‘CHARGED’ OF VIOLATING THE CHILD’S RIGHTS TO FREE AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION."
"The active involvement of Parents-Teachers Associations (PTA) and Alumni Associations in fund-raising activities of the school is also worth citing. In Srinakrarinwirot University, the school gained 5 to 10 million Baht per year from the PTA, which was used in constructing one of the school buildings."
Aside from Bangkok, Indonesia also allows parents’ contribution fees in their public schools. Singapore parents give token contribution, even if the government can afford to pay, it insists on this. This is a parental obligation and parents’ personal investment. They should not totally depend on the government.
Free education in the Philippines was possible in the late forties, when we had just gained our independence. Then, there were only 30 million Filipinos. Sixty years after, our population has nearly tripled and it would really be difficult for our National Budget to provide free schooling for all public grade school and high school students specially since 70 percent of our population are the poor who do not pay taxes.
How can a school run without finances? You cannot run a good school without money, thus it is necessary to require parents to pay certain fees. The Filipino parents should be reminded the necessity for them to give their counterpart to ensure quality education for their children.
DepEd secretary badly needed — to professionally manage the educational system of our country
For half a century we have allowed the deterioration of our educational system. It is about time we get a DepEd secretary who can professionally manage our educational system who will remove the dual tasks of principals and instead allow her to focus on the evaluation and monitoring of teachers. Then, he or she should put in the professional administrator to take care of finance, personnel, enrollment and environmental concerns.
It doesn’t matter whether they name Congressman Jesli Lapus or OIC Fe Hidalgo as the next Secretary of the Department of Education. Whoever sits as the next DepEd secretary should have an iron fist to put professionalism in place!
(For more information or reaction, please e-mail at [email protected]or [email protected])
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