Arroyo Legacy

After 2009, Filipinos have to bear with Gloria Arroyo for six more months.  While many say that she going to be a lame duck or useless president in these coming six months, it may serve us very well to revisit her legacy to our nation. 

Her critics argue that her legacy to the nation partly consists of highest drop-out rates in years; murdering of journalists; and damaged political institutions, distorted and disintegrated economy.  These are aside from the fact that Arroyo is also among the most divisive president, the most to have scandals, and the most repressive (akin, or even surpassing, Marcos).

Highest dropout rates in years

Simply said, Gloria Arroyo’s presidency is going to be remembered as the worst in terms of providing the Filipinos education.  We do not mean to say here that in the previous presidencies there were no school dropouts.  But the thing is, during the past presidencies, enrollment rates were at least able to match the population growth.  Data from the Department of Education show that the highest elementary dropout rate for the period 1990-2000 was 8.01% (recorded in 1996) and the highest secondary dropout rate for the same period was 10.81% (in 1999).

These figures were surpassed under Arroyo regime.  In school year 2005-2006, the dropout rate was 10.57% for elementary, and 15.81% for high school. 

Alliance for Concerned Teachers (ACT) observed that it was only under Arroyo that the dropout rates for the elementary and secondary levels surpassed 10% and 15% respectively.

The 2007-2008 figures from the Department of Education placed dropout rates at 6% for the elementary level and 7.45%for the secondary level.  While the government observed that dropout rates significantly dropped, the admission that the figures were still high was made especially in comparison to 1990 levels where the lowest dropout rates were 1.65% for elementary and 5.88% for high school.

It’s poverty that is said to be the main reason for the dropout rates.  And, this is telling about the Arroyo presidency under which the Filipinos have seen frequent increases in the prices of basic goods and services, the imposition of the Restructured Value Added Tax, and rise in joblessness.

This is particularly serious especially when taken with the UNESCO recommendation as a backdrop that countries spend the equivalent of at least 6% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on education.  The Philippine Human Development Report 2008/2009 held that education spending in the Philippines amounts to only less than 3% of the country’s GDP.