Investing in kids' early years to boost PH human capital: WB
MANILA – The government is implementing programs to support human capital but more needs to be done to take advantage of Filipinos' potential to achieve longterm growth, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said on Monday.
Human capital encompasses the health, knowledge, skills, and experiences that people accumulate throughout their lives.
"While we have been addressing education and health issues, human capital in general, I think we have to take a whole of government approach," Balisacan said at the World Bank's launch of the Philippines Human Capital Review report at the Ascott Hotel in Bonifacio Global City.
Balisacan said the government is implementing programs that support human capital development.
These include proving health and nutrition services for nutritionally at-risk pregnant women and children below two years old; food stamp programs; and the institutionalized Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) to reduce poverty.
He, however, cited the need to have a program that covers the whole life cycle.
"In the 4Ps for example, we only cover children or families who have children elementary to high school. But, what about for those who are not in school yet? Who are poor, but what studies show is that if you miss the first five years of mental development, emotional development, psychosocial development, then you have missed already a lot and that cannot be recovered. So, it's very important that you are able to have a program that covers that whole cycle," he said.
The World Bank's report noted that while the Philippines is on track to enter upper middle-income status in the next couple of years, investments in children's early years are needed to boost human capital.
The report noted that the Philippines is lagging behind its peers in the region in terms of the Human Capital Index which measures the contribution of health and education to the productivity of the next generation of workers.
The Philippines Human Capital Index is estimated at 0.52. This means that a child born in 2020 can only achieve about 52 percent of its potential productivity by the age of 18.
The Human Capital Index for Malaysia is 0.62 while Thailand is 0.61.
World Bank economist Toni Joe Libbos said early childhood development is critical for human capital development and a comprehensive national strategy is needed to extend essential early years services across the country.
He said the Philippines stands at a critical juncture with a unique demographic opportunity.
He said the country has a 25-year window to harness the benefits of a changing population structure.
"So in fact, soon, the country will have a larger working-age population relative to dependents. In other words, there will be more people working than people who depend on them. Now this period will be a period in which the Philippines will have a larger working age population relative to dependents, that is critical for addressing social and economic challenges," Libbos said.
"If we invest today wisely in education, health, and jobs, this demographic shift can boost economic growth. This is a chance to stress that this opportunity won't last forever and not taking action now would mean missing out on a lot of benefits," he said.
World Bank country director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand Ndiame Diop said if investment in human capital happens now, the people that will be coming out of the education system and joining economic activities will be equipped to propel the Philippines to even higher growth.
This means that the Philippines will grow at a high rate.
"But if you don't invest in human capital now, those kids that are getting out of school and entering the labor market will not be able to drive innovation, to drive economic growth, and then you'll see a hump," he said. Government interventions
Balisacan said the government is now addressing these issues.
He said a social protection plan launched by the NEDA Board a year ago, already has the whole of life cycle way of providing health and social services for the people.
He said NEDA is also championing several bills that promote human capital development, particularly for education and lifelong learning for Filipino workers at various stages of their lives.
One is the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning Program, which seeks to establish a national learning intervention program to help learners catch up with the required standard of their respective grade levels while accelerating the recovery of the learning losses incurred during the pandemic.
One of the bills include the Enterprise-based Education and Training Act seeks to improve workforce competitiveness through upskilling and reskilling.
"Finally, the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education or E-GASTPE Act seeks to expand government assistance to the kindergarten and elementary levels," Balisacan said. (PNA)