KALIBO (CENTRAL PHILIPPINES) - PHILIPPINE President Gloria Arroyo said yesterday that schoolchildren will no longer need to wear uniforms, in a bid to ensure they attend class despite families facing soaring food and energy costs.

'We want to make it as small a burden as possible on the parents who send their children to school,' she said in a speech during a provincial visit to this central Philippine city.

She has told Education Secretary Jesli Lapus 'we should not require the schoolchildren to wear uniforms any more', she said.

The Economic Planning Ministry said the 23.5 million Filipinos - who make up one-quarter of the population - who earn 67 pesos (S$2.10) or less a day have been badly hit by surging rice and oil prices.

More than 20 million children are expected to head back to school on June 10 for the start of the new school year, the Education Department has said.

'Our most important human infrastructure is spending on our education,' Mrs Arroyo said.

Last month, Mr Lapus urged Congress to pass a law that would jail parents who fail to send their children to school.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE