Education Sec. Armin A. Luistro lamented Thursday the sorry state of public education in the country citing government neglect as one of the chronic causes. But against a bleak description of the country's educational system, the DepEd boss drew inspiration from his audience who included teachers who made up the crowd attending the fitting ceremonies marking the 114 th President Carlos P. Garcia Day held at the Bohol Cultural Center.  He was the guest of honor during the CPG Day. He said he has his hands full in providing public schools nationwide with teachers, classrooms and “error-free” text books. Luistro, who represented President Benigno Aquino III, told the audience that public schools need some 100,000 teachers; 150,000 classrooms; and one million “error-free” books. Public schools also lack seven million seats and 40,000 toilets. He said the figures he cited above were part of the perennial problem now engulfing the country's public education.

He said as an educator remembering President Garcia's legacies was noteworthy. He said that one of the legacies of President Garcia was the famous Filipino First Policy. He said that President Garcia batted for the use of the mother tongue or vernacular to be taught in the first two years of student's formative years. Luistro also cited President Garcia's push for public-private partnership in the educational system. Showing his impression to the program of Gov. Edgar Chatto's administration in tapping private participation in developing the youths learning potentials, Luistro said it was a step in the right direction. For his part, Chatto stressed that “participative governance was the name of the game” because governance was everybody's concern. His administration was seeking collaborative efforts from the non-government organizations private sector and civil society in various fields of endeavor and services upon his assumption.

As an add-on, Chatto's dispensation launched the Provincial Education Subsidy Program where poor but bright and deserving college students were entitled to receive at least P2,500 per semester. Chatto was the author of President Carlos P. Garcia scholarship program with an annual allocation while he was then the vice-governor in 1998-2001. Hundreds of bright but poor students college graduates have been produced through the said scholarship program. (RVO)