Reduced Inequality
Spotlighting the invisible lines that divide—and how to bridge them.
Making Every Peso Count: Highlighting Regional Inequality in Education
The study examines whether regional appropriations in the national education budget align with actual needs, primarily focusing on the Department of Education. UNESCO proposes that each country should allocate 4% of its GDP to education. This benchmark could be used to estimate the optimal budget and quantify the extent of underfunding in each region. Results, seen in these choropleth maps, signify that certain regions are significantly underfunded compared to others. In particular, CALABARZON, with its large student population, falls way behind other regions in terms of funding. Sadly, only one region in 2024, MIMAROPA, ever got sufficient funding across all regions and over a five-year period. It is important to note, however, that the funding of the DepEd’s Central Office was not considered due to the lack of information regarding how it spends its allocation.
