Makati Mayor and United Opposition (UNO) vice presidential candidate Jejomar Binay said Saturday the latest United Nations (UN) report that puts Philippine education behind Tanzania and Zambia was an indictment on the Arroyo administration’s neglect of education.

According to Binay, the UN’s Global Monitoring Report (GMR) is an indictment of President Arroyo’s failure to provide universal education, particularly to children belonging to the marginalized sectors.

“Mrs. Arroyo will end her decade-long misrule with record shortages in education personnel, equipment and infrastructure,” Binay said.

Binay said that UN report noted the “absence of a decisive political leadership” in the country contributed to the deterioration of education, adding that it now lags behind Tanzania and Zambia. Both countries have incomes that are only one-fourth of the Philippines’ income.

The UN report pointed out that despite an income level higher than other countries, the Philippines under Mrs. Arroyo has had a lower net enrolment, with more than one million children aged 6 to 11 out-of-school, Binay said.

Under Arroyo’s administration, Binay said schools maintained by the national government are overcrowded and manned by underpaid teachers.

For the current school year, the country lacks 66,881 classrooms but Arroyo only asked for funds to construct 5,538, leaving a balance of 61,343.

“The projected shortage of chairs is 816,291, which is equivalent to 20,407 classrooms filled with students who have to study while standing. This is really a standing room only (SRO) policy unique to the Arroyo administration,” he said.

Binay said that the projected lack of teachers was placed at 64,060 but Arroyo asked Congress to appropriate funds to hire only 10,000, for a net shortage of 54,060. It means two million students will have to teach themselves, he said.

He said that while Mrs. Arroyo knew that schools lack 6,538 principals, she scrimped on funds and asked that only 2,000 be hired.

Binay criticized Arroyo for penny-pinching and giving education low priority since she did not seek a single centavo this year to employ 6,473 head teachers.

Binay said Arroyo tried to show that there are enough teachers for everyone by increasing the ratio to one teacher for every 45 students. Not content with this statistical ignominy, she proceeded to institutionalize the double and triple shifts in classes, with some classes ending near midnight.