MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker Monday expressed support for the Department of Education’s call for an increased legislative and budgetary support for the education sector.

Sen. Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture, said resource gaps have always been the major obstacle in the government’s pursuit to introduce reforms in the education sector particularly in the implementation of the K-12 Basic Education Plan by 2013.

Learning has become a crucial challenge for both teachers and students who are struggling over scarcity of textbooks, classrooms and school buildings.

“Investing in roads and bridges is vital to our overall development – but so are investments in our human capital,” said Angara.

The Philippines has to contend with a bigger class size per teacher than its Asian neighbors. The officially approved class size in the country is 60 students per teacher compared with Malaysia’s 31.7, Thailand’s 22.9, and South Korea’s 34.7.

“The Philippines at this point has the lowest per head investment in education among our economic peers in Southeast Asia,” the senator said.

“The first major step we could take towards reform is the K+12 plan, but that is not enough,” he further stressed.

Apart from additional budget, Angara also seeks to add more years to basic education to unclog a national curriculum which tries to cram 12 years worth of learning into 10 years.

He said it is essential to bring the country's standards on par with international norms, such as the Washington Accord for engineering professionals and Bologna Accord for European industries.

At the same time, the senator said it is important that the government come up with a better financing system and free families from huge education costs especially in higher learning.

“Compared to our Asian neighbors, almost 85 percent of education costs in the Philippines is shouldered by the parents. In Japan and Korea, families cover less than 20 percent,” said Angara.