Gov’t urged to increase funding for teachers’ education

MANILA, Philippines -  The government should raise its investment in teacher education to increase the number of passers in the annual licensure examination for teachers (LET) and improve the teaching quality under the K-12 basic education system, according to a recent study by the Philippine Normal University (PNU).

Despite pouring P4.386 billion into teacher preparation from 2008 to 2012, the government still saw a high failure rate in the LET based on the results of the study conducted by the PNU’s academic research experts led by Educational Policy Research and Development Center director Edna Luz Abulon.

The passing rate during the period covered by the study was at 64.8 percent.

“The government invested P59,366 per graduate over four years. Yet, this was grossly inadequate,” the study said.

The study covered 73,882 teacher education graduates in 56 state universities and colleges.

 The study showed that six regions in the Top 8 best LET performers (with lowest failure rate) from 2009 to 20012 received the highest government funding – National Capital Region and Regions 6, 1, 5, 3, and 2.

“The study indicated that the lower the education cost or government support, the greater the tendency to have higher percentage of failure in the LET,” Abulon said. 

Region 5 got the highest government support in teacher preparation investment from 2008-2010 at P136.5 million, followed by NCR at P129.6 million and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at P126.9 million.

The Philippines’ spending on education at 2.8 percent of gross domestic product is already the second lowest in Asia, just next to Cambodia with 1.4 percent, according to the study.

It is at 3.3 percent in Brunei; 4.3 percent in Thailand, and 5.6 percent in Malaysia.

“Raising investments in teacher training should result in higher hiring and retention of quality teachers particularly in basic education (K-12), consequently upgrading learning quality among the youth,” the researchers said.