In the education sector, the year 2009 was marked by a growing number of school children dropping out of school, budget cuts, inadequate pay and pension fund woes for teachers, as well as violations of their basic rights.

The 1987 constitution mandated compulsory elementary education and free high school education, envisioning a society in which all Filipinos have attained at least a high school level of education. However, under Arroyo’s watch, children than ever before are out of school.

The Arroyo government’s failure to effectively address poverty has resulted in an unprecedented increase in the number of drop-outs and out-of-school children throughout the decade. In September, the Department of Education acknowledged that there are 5.6 million out of school children—some 2.2 million children between the ages of 6-12 and 3.4 million between the ages of 13-15. CNN Hero Efren Penaflorida’s “pushcart classrooms” highlighted government’s failure to provide formal education to a growing number of children. This is one of the most worrying legacies of the current administration.

This year, the Arroyo government imposed substantial budget cuts in education in response to the global economic crisis. The Deped’s budget for maintenance and operations was cut by 7% while the budget for capital outlay was cut by 15%. Meanwhile, further cuts have been imposed on next year’s budget as well.

Reduced spending on education has been characteristic of the Arroyo administration for most of the decade. As the Congressional Budget and Planning Office pointed out, “the average annual growth rate of the DepEd’s budget in real terms from 2001-2006 has been negative 3.5%.” Inadequate funding has resulted in the acute shortages of teachers, classrooms, and other resources that have plagued the public school system under Arroyo’s watch.

This year, the Arroyo government passed the so-called Salary Standardization Law 3, in response to a vigorous nationwide campaign by teachers and other government employees. The law provides for annual increases in public sector pay over the next four years. Lower and middle level government employees, including teachers, have criticized the law for providing insufficient salary hikes, particularly since the Arroyo administration imposed a freeze in public sector salaries from 2001 to 2006.

Teachers and other government employees were subjected to further woes by the Government Service Insurance System. In April, it announced that its newly-acquired computer system was incapable of handling the state pension fund’s daily operational requirements, depriving hundreds of thousands of members of reliable service. This blunder is only the latest in a series of fiascoes that have plagued GSIS members throughout the decade. The GSIS management led by Winston Garcia has failed to address the fund’s long-standing problems of shoddy records management and poor collection. As a result, teachers and other government employees have suffered from overdeductions and poor service for most of the decade, making GSIS the single most vilified government agency among the rank-and-file.

The Arroyo government’s track record of human rights violations has not spared the education sector. State forces have subjected teachers and teacher organizations to violence, harassment, and intimidation. In January, the young school teacher Rebelyn Pitao was murdered by military agents in Davao , bringing to 11 the number of teachers victimized by extrajudicial killings since 2001. This year more harassment of progressive teacher oganizations by the military, with the Philppine Army’s Civil-Military Operations units conducting vilification seminars in public schools and campuses against legitimate teacher organizations such as the Alliance of Concerned Teachers. In July-August, the Army occupied a privately-run school for lumads in Lianga, Surigao del Sur. In September, a botched surveillance operation conducted by the Philippine Marines against National Artist and teacher-activist Prof. Bienvenido Lumbera was exposed to the public.

The national government’s failure to secure conditions for peace and order in southern Mindanao together with the prevailing culture of impunity provide the context for the spate of kidnappings targeting teachers in 2009. One ended tragically with the brutal beheading of school principal Gabriel Canizares in November. Government must step up to ensure the safety and security of teachers, especially going into the May 2010 elections.

We challenge all candidates running for office in next year’s elections to immediately address these issues and bring about democratic and progressive reforms in education. #