Can the common Filipino help improve the Quality of Education in the Phils?

High school class under the tree (photo from Philstar)

We have seen in the news, carried by both local and foreign media, that there are many of our poor students in many of our poor barangays, and even in several places in the Metro Manila, where Filipino students either hold their classes under the shed of trees or in dilapidated classrooms with broken desk chairs and worn-out writing boards.

And if they happen to have these classrooms, 70-90 students are cramped in a classroom that is designed for a capacity of 30 students. We have been aghast to see these scenarios every time right before class opening every June.

I wonder how we can change the situation radically. Is there any hope for a better future for these Filipino students whom the future stability and progress of our country rest?

THE CRYING NEED FOR CLASSROOMS, CHAIRS AND TEACHERS

Currently, there are 41,995 barangays all over the country. Many of these barangays have no classrooms even for the elementary graders, while a large number of them have dilapidated classrooms. To put at least 6 classrooms complete with boards and chairs, and fund the salary of the teaching staff, the Philippine government will need the following:

Classroom:  41,995 bgys x 6 classrooms @ P400,000/classroom:
                                                                                               = P100,788,000,000.00

Chairs:  41,995 bgys x 6 classrooms x 30 chairs @ P150/chair:
                                                                                               = P    1,133,865,000.00

                                                                                       Total   P101,921,865,000.00

Teaching Staff:  41,995 bgys x 6 teachers @ P18,000/teacher x 13 months:
                                                                                              = P58,960,980,000.00/yr

THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT APPROACH

If we rely on the government alone, the most possible scenario is they borrow the P101.92 Billion to be able to provide all the 251,970 classrooms and 7,559,100 chairs all in a year. But because it is a borrowed sum it will surely carry an interest rate of at least 3% a year assuming this is a soft loan.

The annual interest cost alone at 3% of P101.92B is P3,057,655,950.00 excluding the payment for the principal loan. This P3.057B annual interest is the equivalent of 7,644 new classrooms. That amount can pay the total annual salary of 13,066 teachers already!

So why waste that amount just to pay for the annual interest when we actually have a better alternative. if only we decide to do it.

THE FILIPINO COMMON FOLK BAYANIHAN APPROACH

I always believe that the Filipino race has the collective economic power that we always fail to harness. That power has been in dormancy for years - and our failure to exercise it has postponed the progress and prosperity of our nation for so many decades already, so much so that Vietnam and Cambodia are now overtaking us.

How can we do it? Our current population is now at 94,013,200 living Filipino souls, rich and poor. Let me help you see how the numbers work to our collective advantage, if each one of us take ownership of this dream and contribute our share:

251,970 rooms worth P100,788,000,000.00 ÷ 94,013,200 Pinoys = P1,072.00 per head

7,559,100 chairs worth P1,133,865,000.00 ÷ 94,013,200 Pinoys   = P     12.06 per head

                                                                                             Total     P1,084.06 per head

This P1,084.06 per head is just P90.33 per month, or P3.01 per day! If each one of us, rich and poor, do it dutifully, we will have built all of these classrooms in just a year!

Now, the next concern to tackle is the salary of the teaching staff which is P58.96 Billion a year for all these new classrooms. Well, we now know how to do the math.

The salary of 251,970 new teachers is P58,960,980,000.00 per year is just P627.15 per Filipino per year, or just P52.26/month or P1.74 per day.

So para maitayo po ang mga classroom at mga silyang ito kailangan lang mag-alay ang bawat Pilipino ng tig P3.01 bawat araw sa loob ng isang taon. Mas mahal pa po ang stick ng sigarilyo na kung saan si Mr. Lucio Tan lamang ang nakikinabang.

At para tuloy-tuloy na ganadong magturo ang mga bagong guro sa bawat classroom na ito, kailangan natin mag-ambag ng tig-P1.74 kada araw taon-taon para tuloy-tuloy ang kanilang mabuting serbisyo bilang mga ulirang guro sa ating mga anak.

Sa pamamagitan ng simpleng paliwanag na ito, hindi na siguro tanong kung kaya ba natin ito. Ang dapat na tanong siguro ay, KAILAN BA NATIN SISIMULAN ITO?

Can we still allow the modern world to pass us by? Can we still afford to postpone the properous destiny of our nation?

Just contact me thru email for any reaction.