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CALLING
it part of her economic stimulus strategy, President
Arroyo on Thursday ordered a 100-fold fund increase for
an educational program that gives cash to qualified poor
families on condition that they send their children to
school and provide them regular health care.
At the
First Biennial National Congress on Education, the
President said she has ordered Budget Secretary Rolando
Andaya Jr. and Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral
to increase funding for the Ahon Pamilya Pinoy program
to P5 billion this year, from P50 million in 2007 “under
our fiscal stimulus program to keep us resilient from
the anticipated US slowdown.”
The
program uses the Conditional Cash Transfer-(CCT)
strategy that gives money to poor families, provided
that they invest in their children by sending them to
school and bringing them to health centers regularly.
To
further boost attendance in public schools, the
President invited local governments to join the
government’s Bike for School program patterned after
that of Thailand, giving bicycles to families with at
least two children who have to travel at least 10
kilometers to get to school.
Under
the program, which the government has “quietly piloted”
in Eastern Samar, qualified families would pay an
amortization of P1 per day for a bicycle that could
carry two children—a tenth of the P3,200 estimated
transportation fare for each student.
For the
same purpose, the President ordered Education Secretary
Jesli Lapus to instruct public schools to start
collecting fees for Parents-Teachers Association, the
Red Cross, and the Boy and Girl Scouts only at Grade 5
“so that there will be no reason to keep children away
from public schools.”
The
President also said that because of the government’s
better fiscal standing, it can afford to earmark P1
billion for teacher training this year, half to be spent
on training in the English language; and to increase to
P1 billion the allocation for the Technical Educational
and Skills Development Authority’s training program and
ladderized education. |
