Dep Ed secretary fails to follow talking points, gets berated by GMA

From MLQ3:

Last night the scuttlebutt concerned the President’s bungled public cabinet meeting, in which she ended up debating the Education Secretary on how best to fudge the numbers concerning classrooms. The news stories of course, do not capture the flavor of what happened the way Jove Francisco’s eyewitness account can. How best to explain the fudging that was bungled? Uniffors explains it mirthfully, comparing it to a passage from Alice in Wonderland:

Secretary of Education Fe Hiidalgo reported a classroom shortage of 6,832 based on a ratio of 45 students per classroom. Queen Taray disagreed. She said the classroom shortage would only be 1,000 if Hidalgo used a 100:1 ratio.

As the discussion over dinner went last night, based on the President’s logic, hold 24 hour marathon classes (half day classes, four times a day), and there would be no classroom shortage!

Heh.

From the Tribune:

Gloria Arroyo’s latest flare-up during a televised Cabinet meeting while giving acting Education Secretary Fe Hidalgo a dressing down for pointing out to her the lack of classrooms, only proves that all she wants to hear from her Cabinet and other officials is what she wants to hear, which is what she says they should say. There can be no one in her government who is allowed to disagree with what she dictates.

Hidalgo earlier stated that there was a shortage of close to 7,000 classrooms, already factoring in a ratio of 45 students to a classroom on double shifts, or a total of 90 morning and afternoon pupils housed in schoolrooms.

Gloria stopped her, saying it was already agreed that there was no classroom shortage, as her figures point to a ratio of 100 pupils in a classroom. It was not clear whether Gloria’s figures meant 200 students to a classroom on a double shift. But this must be so, to do away with the classroom shortage figures presented by Hidalgo. And this must be so, given that a difference of 10 pupils per classroom on a double shift (90 on double shift as against 100 per double shift), can’t add up to make the shortage of some 7,000 classrooms vanish.

Truth is, education wise, the ideal number of students per classroom should be, at the most, a ratio of 20 to one classroom. A 45-1 ratio per session is already a bad enough but 100 pupils per classroom per session is really the pits. The students won’t learn anything, that’s for sure. But Gloria doesn’t care about this, all she cares about is to be able to claim falsely that she has accomplished the feat of having no classroom shortage this year.

This is really a stupid claim, given the fact that 100 students cannot fit in one classroom built for a lesser number of students, in the first place. In the second place, there are not enough desks and even books for the students. Besides, when school opening comes around, it is almost sure that the public will be treated to video foot age of students and teachers holding classes in open air and with the students squatting on the ground.

But as Gloria had already pronounced when her figures were being contradicted by Hidalgo: The classroom figures have already been discussed earlier and the discussion on this should be dropped. Moreover, Gloria stressed that which was important is her achievement record because she is always being attacked on this. She then told Hidalgo to step out and review her figures again.

When Hidalgo reappeared before the media, she said it was her mistake, claiming that she mistook the number of classrooms to be built by government for the classroom shortage and that Gloria’s figures were correct, ergo, there is no such shortage and this will be Gloria’s claimed achievement.

Hidalgo has turned herself into a pathetic figure, either way. On the one hand, she is the Education chief, and she can’t get her basic figures right and is foolish enough to mistake the number of classrooms to be built by government from the current classroom shortage. On the other hand, if her figures are right, she did not fight for it and instead bowed to Gloria’s non-existent achievement of having no classroom shortage this year. So what else will Hidalgo be saying? All the students are equipped with desks and books? There is no shortage of teachers and all students who wanted to enroll have been accomodated?

The position Hidalgo took was unfortunate, as she had earlier been projected in the media as a professional educator rising from the ranks who was doing the right thing for the department. But it now appears that she is so scared to lose her job as Education secretary and is willing to lie along with her chief, to make Gloria look good.

And the worst thing about this is, she may get canned for her "screwup" anyway.

DepEd chief to get Palace ax

After the humiliation, now comes the pink slip.

Malacañang yesterday hinted that Department of Education (DepEd) acting Secretary Fe Hidalgo, who was publicly scolded by President Arroyo during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, may soon be replaced from her post.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita revealed Mrs. Arroyo has already a short list of nominees so she could install a permanent DepEd secretary in the near future.

When asked if Hidalgo is included in the list of candidates, the Palace official said he has no idea.

“The President has names but I’m not privy about it. The President is considering some candidates so we could have a permanent Education secretary soon,” Ermita added.

The problem with Sec. Hidalgo kasi is that she's "not with the program."

More:

Oh the humiliation!

Mabilis talagang mag-solve ng problema si Arroyo.

From Ernie Maceda:

Fantasy. In GMA’s “enchanted kingdom,” there are no classroom shortages, no lack of teachers, English is good and Philippine education is doing well.

Acting Secretary Fe Hidalgo found this out Tuesday when she went to a Malacañang Cabinet meeting. She was supposed to give a briefing on the state of Philippine education. Instead GMA gave her a briefing and a public scolding in front of TV cameras.

Hidalgo reported a shortage of 6,832 schoolrooms. GMA disagreed and told her to go out of the room and review her figures. She came back later to say she made a mistake and that there was in fact no shortage.

See how fast GMA solves problems? In a few hours the classroom shortage disappeared, courtesy of the “fairy queen’s” hand. She never makes a mistake. Only her Cabinet members do.

Well, didn’t she make her shortage of votes disappear too with her telephone calls to Garci?

Fe Hidalgo has reached the top by being designated acting secretary of Education. She said “I felt sorry for myself” after GMA’s outburst and scolding. If she has any sense of self-respect left, she should now opt for retirement and speak out publicly on the deficiencies of GMA’s educational policies. Enchanting? Or disenchanting?

UPDATE: Ellen has more.