Question & AnswerQ&A (PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 6-A)
The title of Presidential Decree No. 6-A is the "Educational Development Decree of 1972."
The policy goals include achieving and maintaining an accelerating rate of economic development and social progress; assuring maximum participation of all people in the benefits of growth; and strengthening national consciousness and promoting desirable cultural values.
The educational system aims to provide broad general education to assist individual development, train middle-level skilled manpower, develop high-level professions to provide leadership and advance knowledge, and respond effectively to changing national needs through educational planning and evaluation.
The principles include improving curricular programs and quality of instruction, upgrading academic standards, democratizing access to education, restructuring higher education, expanding technical and agricultural education, and reforming educational financing to shift funding responsibilities from national to local governments.
Authorized projects include management studies of the Department of Education, establishment or improvement of secondary schools and technical institutes, curriculum and staff development, expansion of agricultural education, development of instructional technology and materials, and provision of assistance and incentives to public and private educational institutions.
The Education Special Committee is composed of the Secretary of Education and Culture as Chairman, and the Secretary of Finance and the Commissioner of the Budget as members. Its functions include approving and evaluating projects endorsed by the National Board of Education and administering the Educational Institutions Development Fund.
The President may contract loans, credits, or indebtedness with any foreign source up to a total of one hundred million US dollars or equivalent, for financing educational development projects, on terms of not less than ten years payment period.
It is a fund established to provide continued assistance for the development and improvement of programs and facilities in public and private universities, colleges, and schools. It shall be administered as a separate fund and managed by reputable financial institutions under regulations promulgated by the National Board of Education and approved by the Secretary of Finance.
Projects are financed through foreign loans authorized by the President, appropriations of five hundred million pesos from the National Treasury over ten years, bond issues, allocations from the Special Education Fund and the Special Science Fund, future savings from reforms, and augmentations from the General Fund if needed.
Loans contracted, payments of principal and interest, earnings of the fund, and importations relating to educational projects by government entities or authorized private entities are exempt from all Philippine taxes, duties, fees, imposts, other charges, and import restrictions.