Despite the country’s policy thrusts and national plans, the actual spending for education has, however, never reached 4 per cent of GDP (with public expenditures ranging from a low of 2.3 percent in 2005 to a high of 3.8 percent in 1998; spending has been 2.8 percent in 2019). Such spending is quite low, relative to what several neighbors have been spending. Clearly, the Philippines needs to improve its spending on education, but not merely for spending’s sake. It will be important to identify specific areas in the education system on where to spend more that can lead to improved attainment of SDG4 outcomes.
Through such an examination, the study hopes to provide specific recommendations for improved policies and actions, design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and governance to meet the SGD4 targets on ensuring equal opportunities for all boys and girls to secure their rights to quality education, thus ensuring that no Filipino is left in learning.