Free, Quality Education to all Filipinos in the Archipelago

By Jules Guiang

January 1, 2030: MANILA — Philippine Congress historically allocated at least 6% of the Gross National Product to education spending, making quality education free to all Filipinos in the archipelago.

Only the signature of the President is needed to formally enact the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for the year 2031. The Philippines is one of the countries that have legislated laws on education reform, specifically on its quality and budget after the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) this year.

“This is a fruit of our age-old struggle to make education accessible to all levels of society. Our commitment to the SDGs truly helped us unite and realize that only through quality education, we can invest in the future of our nation,” said by Congressman Jules Guiang, one of the authors of the “6 Will Fix Law.’

History of “6 Will Fix”

This momentous feat for the Philippine education sector started as a campaign in 2007 through the initiative of a student political party at the University of the Philippines, they called it ”6 Will Fix.” It was based on UNESCO’s study spearheaded by Delors that countries should allocate at least 6% of GNP to education spending. It was later on adopted by the National Alliance of Youth Leaders (NAYL) through the leadership of then youth leader and now Philippine Legislator, Jules Guiang.

“We went around the Philippines and urged the youth that we are a powerful force, that we can create public clamor to fund more in education. It was quite hard at first how to engage with the youth especially that our campaign revolved around the budget but eventually, my colleagues in NAYL was able to build chapters in the regions of the country and was able to contextualize the education budget to the issues of their areas,” said Guiang.

2030 Youth Force

The “6 Will Fix” also flourished when NAYL partnered with the 2030 Youth Force that was established by youth leaders from different nations of the Asia-Pacific Region in 2016 through the leadership of the United Nations Volunteers. Congressman Guiang was also one of the founding members of the youth force.

Congressman Guiang shared that “the 2030 Youth Force has a huge contribution with the legislation of our historic law. It gave our campaign credibility when the UN supported our cause. It steered us towards public clamor which we really needed so our lawmakers can give us attention. After so many Congresses, I am glad now that now I’m part of the incumbent Congress, the UN is still there to support our endeavor.”

Right vs Privilege

Guiang goes back to the days when the bill was not even able to go through the committee level debates in the Lower House of Congress. It was because of the argument of education as a right versus education as a privilege. The Progressive legislators in Congress were really outnumbered compared to the Conservative lawmakers.

The Conservative block felt strongly that socialized tuition in state universities should be maintained, because for them rich families should pay more and underprivileged families should pay less. They also argued that in this manner, government would be able to use unused funds for other priorities.

The Progressive block slowly but eventually reached the peak of success when they campaigned starting from the grassroots. “I’ve always thought that the progressive block in Congress will always remain as part of the minority. But because of collaborating and empowering different youth groups, we were able to bring progressive leaders in Congress, and now we’re here, legislating a historic law for education. We can now provide free and quality education to our Filipino youth,” Guiang said.

Conservatives Remain as Critics

Now that the Conservative Block is ruling the Opposition, their narrative focuses on their doubts that providing free education for all would be impossible, one thing that Congressman Guiang strongly opposed “It’s all about reallocation of funds from other budget items that we see aren’t directly developing the crucial needs of our people like from debt servicing, bloated budget on military spending, streamlining of redundant agencies, among others. It is possible. It has always been possible, it just that the Conservatives blocked this idea ever since because of their vested interests.”

Sustainability

The “6 Will Fix Law” will be carved in the legacy of UN’s SDGs, specifically Goal # 4. The Philippines’ case is a success story that can be applied to all developing nations. The magic formula for Guiang is collaboration and empowerment, the by partnering with different groups and empowering individuals, the message of a campaign can be mainstreamed and eventually turn into flesh towards triumph.

(There are more than 700 million young people in Asia and the Pacific. Every single young person has a dream and a vision for 2030. What’s yours? Send us a message with your future perfect!)