Senator Richard Gordon said the continuous degeneration of the country's educational system may be solved by taxing the 40 million cellphone users in the Philippines.

Speaking before graduates of Negros Negros Maritime College Foundation Inc. in Dumaguete recently, Gordon said this is one decision leaders are afraid to do. By taxing every call and text messages made P1, Gordon said government will be able to generate P73 billion in a year, more than enough to build 60,000 classrooms.

It can also be used to hire 46,000 new teachers, make three million school seats, for feeding program, scholarships, purchase of computers, training of teachers, and many others.

Gordon cited the dismal performance of graduates in the elementary level placing third from the bottom of 43 countries in the fields of English, Math and Science.

He said the country's educational system has brought the country down and the budget has continually gone down in the last 25 years. If the budget goes down, economic development goes down even faster, Gordon pointed out.*JG

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