Issues on Reuters Article

Philippine schools offer hard lesson in life - Yahoo! News

Here are the fundamental issues reported by Crimmins on the Reuters Article

• Dropout rate is climbing so fast (in secondary school, it rose to 15.8 percent in 2005-06 from 8.5 percent in 2000-01) because of continued underfundung and rapid population growth. Dropout rates in some schools is 30 per cent.
  
• The public schools were once the pride of Asia. Scenario now: insufficient teachers, classrooms and textbooks
• The poor are most at risk. Without education, the poor remains poor. Vicious cycle. Example of Ducat was highlighted and his "impassioned condemnation of corruption and inequality in education"
• Transparency International rated RP number 126 out of 163 in 2006 global survey on corruption. Behind Libya and Uganda!
• "Corruption is really pervasive in the education system." -
  
• Book publishers bribe school boards and superintendents to win contracts. Result - inappropriate texts, book shortages.
  
• Some teachers earning "as little as 165,000 pesos ($3,400) a year, sometimes over-charge their students for materials or accept payoffs for higher grades".
• Many teachers left RP "for better-paying work as domestic help".
• A result is "bitterness among the poor".
• Economy is growing but the poor is not affected because of population explosion among them. Reason? Lack of "contraception and little education about birth control in the mainly Catholic nation".
• "46 percent of the Philippine population live on less than $2 a day, and 28 percent of children under the age of five are underweight" - UN
• "Extreme poverty is forcing more and more students out of the classroom and onto the streets of large cities, where they beg and hustle to survive".
• One teacher was quoted as saying that even if education is free, the problem is "the daily expenses and allowances of the children". He continues, "I have had students who attend classes on empty stomachs."
  
• Overcrowded classrooms (1:65) and lack of space (not enough chairs and desks) prevail in classrooms. Classes are held in shifts (6am and 1pm).
• "While the rich can send their children to private institutions with air conditioning and computers, rural public schools often have to make do without reliable electricity and classes are sometimes held outside or in the stairwell".
• Education spending (2004) in RP is 3.2% of GDP (higher than Indonesia's 0.9 percent, lower than Malaysia's 8% and Thailand's 4.2%) Education budget will be hiked to 13% this year (133 Billion pesos).
  
• "For decades, the Philippines was acclaimed as one of the most highly educated countries in Asia but recent test scores tell a different story" - Only 20% of 12 year olds scored the mastery level of 75 percent in math, science, social studies and languages in the 2004/2005 school year.