Author : Malicsi, Lorna C.; Foronda, Randy A.

Summary : As one nugget of wisdom says, “Many hands make light work,” Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Abad, speaker of the recent SEARCA weekly Agriculture and Development Seminar Series, affirms this wisdom, by simply practicing it. And putting it in practice, he introduces the Schools First Initiative (SFI).

SFI's main goal is for the Philippine educational system to rise above mediocrity and perform at par, if not better than other countries. First line item to be tackled is the "declining real per student spending for basic education". This budget is still based from that in 1988, when the country first implemented free secondary education.