Reaction Paper 3

Issues in Philippine Education: In Retrospect
By Engr. Herman M. Lagon
January 5, 2010 Iloilo City, Philippines

According to the IBON Facts and Figures, the literacy rate in the Philippines has regressed a lot over the last ten years. This is attributed to the dwindling quality, relevance and accessibility of education—the very basic rights of the Filipino youth as etched vividly in the Constitution.

Despite the good things that Department of Education has reported such as the increased number of classrooms and students, the fact remains that the crowding 1:70 classroom ratio, the decreasing aptitude of students and the decadence of the values of the young, among hundreds others, hamper the progress of the state of education of the country.

From http://www.ph.net/htdocs/education/issue.htm, education in the Philippines may be summarized into the following four issues:

1. Quality–There was a decline in the quality of the Philippine education, especially at the elementary and secondary levels. For example, the results of standard tests conducted among elementary and high school students, as well as in the NCAE and Board Exams for college students, were way below the target mean score.

2. Affordability–There is also a big disparity in educational achievements across social groups. For example, the socioeconomically disadvantaged students have higher dropout rates, especially in the elementary level. And most of the freshmen students at the tertiary level come from relatively well-off families.

3. Budget–The Philippine Constitution has mandated the government to allocate the highest proportion of its budget to education. However, the Philippines still has one of the lowest budget allocations among the ASEAN countries. This, not to mention the corruption component in the same institution that must abhor such act.

4. Mismatch–There is a large proportion of “mismatch” between training and actual jobs. This is the major problem at the tertiary level and it is also the cause of the existence of a large group of educated unemployed or underemployed. Here, also to consider is the degenerating educational mindset of working abroad or of working for employment no matter what it takes, with no regard to other more valuable intentions like social work, inventiveness and entrepreneurship leading to public service and better self-actualization.

The macro-level educational issues and concerns above can be better understood when the micro-level concerns—mainly curriculum issues—are put into the equation. This way, people can understand the state of education more and eventually face and nip the problems in the bud.

Curriculum managers and educational experts are always looking for better ways to achieve better learning through teaching. However, since curriculum innovations seemed to be difficult for many, issues and concerns have been raised about curricular innovations. The newness of the idea to the users raises issues which need to be addressed. Certain aspects need to be clarified in order to overcome the attitude and feelings that create some concerns.

Source:
http://www.thenewstoday.info/2010/01/05/issues.in.philippine.education.in.retrospect.html

Reaction/ Reflection:

Today, for every 10 children who start their primary education, only 6 go on to continue with their secondary education, and 4 will manage to enter college. What happened? Other countries used to send their students to the Philippines to learn, now they've overtaken us and are the experts. Isn't that frustrating? The situation of the educational system here, in the Philippines, is a great cause for worry.

As a student, I feel for those children who want to go school but situation would not allow them, especially the ones that barely go to school yet without any materials in hand and with empty stomach, at the same time. This is very unfortunate. I believe every child has the right to proper education as stated in our Constitution. However, what has happened? Instead, they’ve deserve less, with crowded classroom, shared textbooks, incomplete school facilities, and incompetent teachers.

I would like to point out three reforms to our government officials regarding our educational issues. First, upgrade teachers’ salary scale. Our dear teachers have been underpaid; thus there is very little incentive for most of them to take up advanced trainings, and there is less interest to teach if that’s the case. Second, stop the current practice of subsidizing state universities and colleges. Because this may not be the best way to promote equity, an expanded scholarship program to give more focus and priority to the poor but deserving, maybe more equitable. Finally, get all the leaders in business and industry to become actively involved in higher education. This is aimed to carry out a selective admission policy, i.e., installing mechanisms to reduce enrollment in oversubscribed courses and promoting enrollment in undersubscribed ones.

To tap it all, they say that education is the very answer to poverty, corruption, hate, and ignorance. If it really is like many people believe it is, then the study of the key educational issues in the Philippines is a significant endeavor that needs serious attention and action. I hope to be able to make some sense about the decline in the quality of education, and with the help of people as concerned as I, do something to change for the better.