Managing the Department of Education

Asked during an interview by Mimi Ong of ANC as to the basic problem of the Department of Education, we replied that the problem is not with the foot soldiers (teachers) but rather with the generals (Administrators). There is a basis for my assertion.

Students in private schools have greatly outperformed students in public schools in international tests such as the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study). And the private schools have achieved this better performance at half the cost of the public schools.

In a paper presented at the 5th Paderanga-Varela Memorial Lectures entitled “DepEd’s Voucher Program: A Promising Tool for a Whole of Nation Approach to Philippine Education Development,” Dr. Vicente B. Paqueo, Ph.D. cited the following findings:

1.) Public but not private school students are significantly adversely affected by educational material shortages;

2.) Coefficients of percentages of schoolteachers with master’s degree are significantly positive among private but not public schools;

3) Coefficients of percentages of schoolteachers fully certified are significantly positive among private but not public schools.

The findings indicate that our public-school administrators, as compared to private school administrators, are less competent in managing the human and physical resources placed at their disposal.

We argue that this poor performance is due to the management structure of the Department of Education (DepEd), the low teeth-to-tail ratios of the public schools which result in overloading of the public-school teachers.

Let us take a public school such as the Nicanor Garcia Elementary School in Makati City. Elsa Soliva, the school principal, reports to Maria Magdalena M. Lim, the Makati City School Superintendent. She in turn reports to Wilfredo E. Cabral, the National Capital Region Regional Director. Mr. Cabral in turn reports to Undersecretary Revsee A. Escovedo. Undersecretary Escovedo in turn reports to DepEd Secretary Sara Z. Duterte. There are therefore five levels of management — six if Makati was a municipality as there would be an additional provincial layer. By comparison, the private schools have only two levels, the principal reports directly to the president. Even the Catholic Church has only three levels, the pope, the bishop, and the parish priest. Thus in the DepEd we have a lumbering bureaucratic behemoth.

In the Vietnam War, 500,000 American soldiers were matched against 100,000 Vietnamese. But the Americans did not have a decisive advantage. Only 50,000 American soldiers were actually fighting in the field, the 450,000 American soldiers were support staff (due to the long supply lines from the United States all the way to Vietnam). On the other hand, only 50,000 of the 100,000 Vietnamese soldiers were support staff (due to the short supply lines from North Vietnam to South Vietnam). In military terms, the teeth-to-tail ratio of the American military was 1:9 while for the Vietnamese military was 1:1. In sum, the American soldier had no numerical superiority but was evenly matched with the Vietnamese soldier.

Let us again go back to the Nicanor Garcia Elementary School. Take a look at the organizational chart:

Nicanor Garcia Elementary School has 58 employees of which 36 are teaching staff and 22 non-teaching staff. The non-teaching staff consists of three administrators, five non-teaching staff, six utility personnel, six security personnel, one maintenance employee, and one alternative learning system employee. So it has a teeth-to-tail ratio of 36:22.

The management structure and the low teeth-to-tail ratio has resulted in the overloading of the teachers such that DepEd mandates that public school teachers teach at least six hours per day or 30 hours per week. Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) spokeswoman Ruby Bernardo cites the following statistics:

* Teachers in private high schools such as Xavier, University of Santo Thomas, and La Salle teach only 10-12 hours a week;

* Teachers in the University of the Philippines teach only 12 hours per week, while in the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, they teach 15 hours per week;

* In Vietnam, teachers teach for 13 hours per week and in Indonesia 18 hours per week.

The remaining 10 hours per week of the public school teachers is allocated to meeting the bureaucratic red tape demands of their superiors as well as their numerous duties as public servants.

These considerable obstacles have prevented effective management in the Department of Education. To remove these obstacles would require a drastic re-structuring of the DepEd.

We propose the devolution of the public grade schools and high schools to the LGU school boards or Pamantasan.

For example, the public grade schools and high schools of the City of Pasig could be devolved to the Pamantasan ng Pasig. As part of the Pamantasan ng Pasig, the grade school and high school principals will report directly to the President, reducing the levels of management from five to two levels. More importantly, the principals will be reporting to a person keenly aware of the educational requirements of Pasig and who has a great interest in improving the quality of the grade school and high school students as they will be the incoming students in his colleges.

The support functions of the grade school and high schools would be transferred to the support staff of the Pamantasan ng Pasig. The support staff of the grade schools and high schools who are qualified to teach can now be reassigned to teaching. The support staff who cannot teach, i.e., the security staff, can be absorbed by the city government of Pasig. This will greatly improve the teeth-to-tail ratios of the public schools.

With this improvement, the DepEd requirement of a minimum of 30 teaching hours per week for public school teachers can now be reduced to the Pamantasan ng Pasig requirement of a minimum of 18 hours per week for the Pamantasan teachers.

With a lower teaching load, the now Pamantasan ng Pasig teachers can focus on increasing the learning levels of their students. Moreover, as employees of the City of Pasig, they can call on their fellow employees to assist them in their public service duties.

Dr. Victor S. Limlingan is a retired professor of AIM and a fellow of the Foundation for Economic Freedom. He is presently chairman of the Cristina Research Foundation, a public policy adviser, and of Regina Capital Development Corp., a member of the Philippine Stock Exchange.