Senate bets push for education reforms

ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Rep. France Castro and labor leader Leodegario "Ka Leody" de Guzman vowed to advocate for reforms in the country's education system and provide enough funding to the health care sector if they are elected to the Senate.

In a Townhall conducted by The Manila Times and DZRH, the two candidates cited the perennial problems in the education and health sectors.

Castro, a former public school teacher, said she would back the allocation of 6 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to education.

She said that prioritizing funds for education would address the shortage in classrooms, teachers, and other materials necessary in schools.

"Education has been neglected for decades. So how can we improve it? There's a lack of budget, and of course the orientation to education is important," Castro said.

The government currently spends 3 to 3.5 percent of the GDP for education.

In the P6.326-trillion budget for 2025, education has the biggest allocation, P1.05 trillion.

Castro said that another solution to education problems was to reduce class size from the current 45 to 60 to a maximum of 35, which was the international standard.

She also cited Edcom 2 findings, which showed that 62 percent of high school teachers in the country were teaching subjects outside their college specializations.

Castro said she also aims to champion a robust feeding program for elementary students, recognizing that this was a critical stage for brain development.

"We also have a proposal to hopefully have a real feeding program in elementary school because many students come to school hungry. How can they learn if our children are hungry?" she said.

Apart from the education sector, Castro said 5 percent of the GDP should be allocated to the health sector.

"Health is a right of the citizens. Just like education, it should also be properly funded, because right now it seems like the health budget is not even 2 percent of our budget," Castro said.

"That is why our platform is to align the health budget to at least 5 percent of our GDP. Because most of our hospitals, more than a hundred hospitals of the Department of Health, are really lacking in equipment, especially those used in diagnostics," she said.

Castro, a member of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives, said the group would also push for a bill to set a minimum monthly salary of P50,000 for nurses in government and private hospitals.

"If the budget requirement for health is fulfilled, we hope we will have a health that is accessible, nationwide, and not solely handled by the local government units," she said.

"They want to nationalize their regional hospitals because their budget cannot sustain it. So we really need to give these regional hospitals a budget to meet the needs of our citizens.... That PhilHealth funds should be poured into our hospitals," she added.

De Guzman, chairman of the labor group Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, elaborated on the need to strengthen and improve basic education.

He expressed concern over the decline in students' reading and mathematical proficiency, noting that the issue was not solely rooted in the education sector.

De Guzman said that economic issues also played a role in this matter, including the lack of learning materials and, more importantly, the shortage of infrastructure such as classrooms.

He said, "we should focus our curriculum and courses not only on developing the livelihood of individuals for them to get jobs from the large corporations but also on developing our country. Those courses that will develop our agriculture, our industry for our nation-building. That is what we should be doing," he said.

De Guzman, who ran for president in 2022 but lost, also noted that teachers were not properly cared for despite being one of the main pillars of the educational system.

He also suggested that more attention should be given to the shortage of principals in public schools.

"Teachers should be prioritized by our government. It should ensure that their salary is right, their benefits, their health protection and teaching materials are provided because that is where the development of our students' knowledge comes from," de Guzman said.

He stressed the importance of appointing someone from the education sector to head the Department of Education (DepEd), and for increasing funding for the agency.

"We should fix the appointment of the secretary of the Department of Education. The agency's head should come from the education sector itself, not politicians," de Guzman said.

"We should also ensure that the budget for education is high. The budget of the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) should not exceed the education budget. Because in the Constitution, DepEd should be the most important and should be given a higher budget," he said.

De Guzman also pushed for reforms in the health care system to better help Filipinos during health crises.

"Our government's approach must be changed. Instead of just treating the sick, the framework should be thinking about how to prevent illness," de Guzman said.

"Our government's approach must be proactive, and what is needed is to ensure that workers have enough wages to properly feed their children," he added.

De Guzman said the government should also address the shortage of health workers in the country by making medical education more accessible to students.

"Give full support to our health workers, give them proper wages, benefits because they are our first defense in protecting the well-being of our citizens," he said.