Increasing Investment to Improve Basic Education Outcomes in the Philippines
Over the last decade, the Government of the Philippines has embarked on an ambitious education reform program to ensure that all Filipinos have the opportunity to obtain the skills that they need to play a full and productive role in society. The g...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/07/26572908/increasing-investment-improve-basic-education-outcomes-philippines http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24745 |
| Summary: | Over the last decade, the Government of
the Philippines has embarked on an ambitious education
reform program to ensure that all Filipinos have the
opportunity to obtain the skills that they need to play a
full and productive role in society. The government has
backed up these reforms, particularly over the last five
years, with substantial increases in investment in the
sector. As a result, access to basic education has
increased, particularly for the poorest households, and the
overall learning environment has improved. While these
improvements have halted a long-term decline in education
sector outcomes, significant challenges remain. In
particular, the share of national income devoted to basic
education has only recently returned to the levels of the
early 2000s, and spending per student in the Philippines is
still low compared to spending in other middle-income
countries. These relatively low levels of spending per
student are likely to have limited the scope of the
improvements in education outcomes over the last decade.
High school completion rates remain low compared with other
countries in the region, and enrollment gaps among different
socioeconomic groups persist. Stakeholders frequently
express concerns about the quality of the education provided
and about the level and breadth of skills that children
possess when they leave school. The purpose of this note is
to investigate whether the recent increases in the financing
for basic education have improved education outcomes and to
identify any factors that may be constraining the
effectiveness of public spending. It concludes that further
increases in public spending will be needed if the
government’s ambitious goals for the education sector for
the next five years are to be achieved. However, increased
investment will not be enough on its own. It will also be
necessary to ensure that these resources are used effectively. |
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