Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today said that the government’s low education spending is to blame for the “poor” performance of both elementary and high school students in the 2009 National Achievement Test.

Palatino said that the slight improvement of the overall Mean Percentage Score from 64.81 percent in 2008 to 66.33 percent this year is “not a cause for celebration” as the scores are still way below the 75 percent passing rate.

“As a result of low spending on education, the quality of education becomes poor, and this has grave implications on the performance of our students. Because of the insufficient budget, students are forced to study in makeshift classrooms, read obsolete and erroneous textbooks, and learn from underpaid teachers. Students should not be blamed for their low scores. Our government officials remain the men behind the shabby curtain,” Palatino said.

In her term as President (2001-2009), Arroyo allotted only an average of 15.1 percent of the national budget to education, which is lower than under the administrations of Estrada (18 percent, 1999-2000) and Ramos (16.6 percent, 1992-98) (DBM).

In 2007, the Congressional Budget and Planning Office stated that “in terms of share of the national budget, the DepEd budget represents one of the lowest at 11.96% since 1995.” Furthermore, it pointed out that “the average annual growth rate of the DepEd’s budget in real terms from 2001-2006 has been negative 3.5%.”

At US$138 per student per year, the Philippines is one of the lowest education spenders in the world. Thailand and Singapore spend US$853 and US$1,800 per student per year, respectively, while Japan spends as much as US$5,000.

“DepEd is putting the blame on ‘urban congestion’ and ‘ubiquitous’ malls as the reasons behind the poor performance of urban students compared to those in the rural areas. While these are legitimate factors, our DepEd officials should not put the blame on secondary factors,” Palatino said.

Palatino said, “Education receives the highest allocation in our national budget yet our students perform poorly compared to our neighbors. This should serve as enough basis for the government to increase its funding for education. Moreover, DepEd is tainted with so much corruption. How can we ensure that the students and teachers, instead of corrupt officials benefit from DepEd’s huge slice of the pie.”

The Philippines performed poorly in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study in 2003, ranking 41st in Science and 42nd in Math in a field of 45. ###