Ayala Group’s Education Arm Offers High School at P64 a Day

Conglomerate Ayala Corporation’s new business venture offers affordable education saying that for P64 a day, families can send a teenager off to high school.

The new education arm of the Ayala Group, Affordable Private Education Center Inc. (APEC), is offering an all-in annual cost of P23,000 that includes books, computers and fees, Alfredo I. Ayala, LiveIt Global Services Management Institute Inc. (LGSMI) president, said. He added the annual cost “is about P64 per day”.

Ayala said they offer affordable education “by leveraging economies of scale and a much focused no-frills approach pioneered in other countries by Pearson.”

He said the Ayala Corp. has a long term perspective [for APEC] and “really looking at economies of scale that we know we will be able to achieve.

APEC Human Resources director Pam Wu said that with low tuition fees, teachers will receive low compensation but still within standards. She added that they are not paying very high, because they ensure that they will be able to balance their cost and revenue.

“What’s important is we have no problem with teachers because what we have been recruiting for is the passion to actually teach and that’s what’s critical,” Wu said.

Compensation Package

In an interview with GMA News Online, Wu said they are offering between P12,000 to P18,000 compensation package, adding that this is equivalent to prevailing salaries in other schools.

Currently, public school teachers receive a minimum salary of P18,549 under the third phase of the Salary Standardization Law.

Ayala said that to attract teachers, part of their proposition is to offer a career path with plans to expand in the next few years. “They will have an opportunity to graduate to higher levels of responsibilities which will also come with higher compensation,” Ayala said.

APEC, which opened its first branch in Emilio Aguinaldo College in Manila last July 2013, is putting up 11 schools in cities of Caloocan, Manila, Marikina, Pasig and Quezon this year.

With Pearson, Ayala Corp. is spending $4 million to build at least 12 schools mainly catering to the services sector, Ayala said.

Source: GMA News Online