Philippines increases assistance to private education

Big increases in public money for private education were a feature of the proposed Philippines budget released earlier this year. We look at the government's investment in private education.

Nearly 400,000 private high school students will be supported by the government following budget proposals this year for 1.8 billion pesos (about NZ$48 million) for the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education scheme.

The budgeted amount is a 250 million peso increase on the last budget, an indication of the importance placed on private education which the government has supported for nearly 20 years.

About 70 percent of the 400,000 students are supported through Educational Service Contracting (ESC) whereby the government contracts with private schools to enrol students in areas where there is no public high school or not enough space in public schools.

The per-student subsidy under the programme has more than doubled in the past four years to 4,000 pesos and discussions are currently underway about further increases.

The number of students supported under ESC has risen from 104,000 in 1989/90 to more than 280,000 in 2003/04. An increase of 50,000 is planned for 2004/05.

The increases mean budgeted spending on the scheme is expected to be around 1.5 billion pesos in 2004/05, nearly double the amount of spending in 2003/04.

ESC schools serve mainly low income families and 80 percent of them charge fees at or under the average cost of public schools.

Education Forum policy advisor Norman LaRocque carried out a study of the private education sector in the Philippines in 2000. He said the tuition fee data for schools in ESC "suggests that the programme offers a viable and realistic alternative for providing schooling to low-income Filipinos."

The government has a certification programme to help control the quality of education in ESC schools.

The government also supports high school students through the Tuition Fee Supplement, a 'voucher-type' programme that subsidises students in private high schools. That scheme is now being abolished in favour of ESC.

The importance of private education is enshrined in the Philippine Constitution which states that "the State recognises the complementary roles of public and private institutions in the educational system and shall exercise reasonable supervision and regulation of all educational institutions".

The private sector represents about 20 percent of secondary school enrolments (around two million students). This is down from nearly 46 percent just over 20 years ago.

Mr LaRocque said a range of factors, including low economic growth, the introduction of 'free' high school education in the 1980s, higher subsidies to public schools and a fast growing population, were responsible.

A list of voucher and voucher-like schemes in developing countries.

Adopt-a-School Programme

The Phillipines' Adopt-a-School programme was established in July 1997 to:

• encourage the private sector, including corporations, business associations, non-government organizations, foundations and individuals to partner with the government to address problems in public education such as shortages of classrooms, desks and textbooks
• provide mechanisms to allow the private sector to assist in upgrading and modernising the education system
• provide an environment more conducive to learning, improve completion rates and lift achievement levels
• widen access to quality education and reduce drop-out rates.

Under the programme, private entities are allowed to assist a public school, preferably located in the 20 poorest provinces, with any number of activities, such as staff and faculty development, construction of new, and upgrading of existing, facilities, provision of books and instructional materials and modernisation of instructional technologies.

Over 270 million pesos have been donated by the private sector under the Adopt-a-School programme.