Educational Reforms: The Key to Poverty Reduction
By Rudy P. Esposo II
It is undeniable that the continuous breakthroughs in science and technology is beneficial for billions of people worldwide. However, there are still inevitable situations arising in which even these discoveries are unable to solve.
The UNICEF had estimated 26,500 to 30,000 children’s death each day from the poorest countries due to poverty. They have also learned that half the world or nearly three billion people live on less than two dollars a day! Unluckily, many Filipinos experienced the same. A proof to this is the alarming result of the Social Weather Stations Survey for the second quarter. Fifty-nine percent of Filipino families, higher than the 50% last quarter, or about 10.6 million individuals rate themselves as “poor”. TNS Philippines, on the other hand, conducted a survey this August uncovering that 55% of their respondents expect their conditions to worse these coming months. This apparently contradicts the drooping poverty percentage mentioned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her SONA last July.
Since we achieved independence from the colonial powers, numerous solutions had proposed to reduce poverty. Unfortunately, it remains unsolved and miserably speaking, worsens everyday. Considering the statistics mentioned, this situation is indeed serious. And now that it is prevalent, it is time to realize that poverty is not a source of entertainment but an important argument to face.
Poverty as defined by World Bank’s 2000 World Report “is an unacceptable deprivation in human well-being that can comprise both physiological and social deprivation”. Such profound definition is incompatible for an ordinary Filipino who earns little to feed his eight children while living together in a paltry shelter. Poverty for him has simple definitions. It interweaves with hunger and inadequate shelter, being sick and unable to see a doctor, not having access to school and not knowing how to read, no job and fears for the future, and is living from hand-to-mouth. It yields hopelessness and shackles one’s freedom. It has many faces and differs from one form to another. It is a situation people want to escape.
So how can we uplift the lives of our thousands of suffering countrymen? How can we annihilate this impediment that restrains us towards sustainable progress?
This situation calls for everybody’s action. It demands public attention to seek for upright and long-term solutions so it may not burden the next generation of Filipinos.
Julius Nyerere, former president of the United Republic of Tanzania, once said, “Education is not a way to escape poverty; it is a way of fighting it”. Poverty is both a cause and an effect of insufficient access to or completion of quality education. The relationship between education and poverty reduction is very clear—educated people have higher income potential, thus improving the quality of their lives. Lack of education perpetrates poverty and poverty constrains access to schooling. Eliminating poverty requires access to quality education.
Education is recognized as a basic human right. It empowers individuals, strengthens their self-confidence, and provides nuggets of facts for future use. Yet, the country’s educational system is at risk as what the situation and statistics show. Allowing this to decline while doing nothing is wasting the quality of our human resources. The importance we give to education is insufficient compared to other countries. Let us invest more on education, not for corruption in the education sector. This is the most effective instrument in preparation for our economic take off. Furthermore, the fight to reduce poverty by intensifying our education field requires collaborative efforts from different sectors and from us, ordinary citizens. Remember that no country has ever succeeded if it has not educated its people.
The impact of education on poverty reduction tends to be less direct but it provides long-term benefits in many ways. Investing on education requires the improvement of certain aspects.
It starts with the appointment of officials who will hold positions in the education field. We should ensure their capability and competency to supervise the department and appropriate the funds which is the largest chunk from the national budget.
Then the subsiding numbers of our competent graduates due to abrupt shift from high school to college. They end up working in jobs though decent but do not require college education. We should consider the recommendations of Filipino educators in their Education Summit last January who proposed a two-year preparatory course after high school conforming to the 12-year global standard in basic education. This improves the quality of our workers, not the quality or quantity of jobs.
The teachers have critical roles in attaining our goals. Unfortunately, low salaries, interrupted benefits, and deferred pensions demotivate them in teaching. Let us pay our teachers well and grant what they deserve so they will no longer leave their families behind to work overseas. Let us not wait for another Anita Pamintuan who until her death does not grant her demand for salary increase. Expect our teachers to be more dynamic in their respective fields through different trainings which will enhance their teaching competencies.
With the 146-billion-peso budget for education this year, let us improve the students’ learning resources and environment. Let us ensure there will be no schools with no access to electricity, no running water, no toilets, no classrooms without ceilings, and no tables and chairs which have poor condition and hazardous to students. May the DepEd meet the standard 1:25 room to student ratio and achieve the standard 1:1 book to student ratio. Let us increase, from the current 12 pesos, the amount being spent for each student.
Let our schools be centers for various government programs like health care and nutrition, guidance and counseling services, environmental and patriotic advocacies, income generating activities, and community participation. An educated populace should have access to important information and other public issues.
Education is not only important in reducing poverty; it is also a key to wealth creation which is a significant aspect in education programs intended to contribute to poverty reduction.
Remember: “Non schola sed vita discimus” (We do not learn for school but for life).
The UNICEF had estimated 26,500 to 30,000 children’s death each day from the poorest countries due to poverty. They have also learned that half the world or nearly three billion people live on less than two dollars a day! Unluckily, many Filipinos experienced the same. A proof to this is the alarming result of the Social Weather Stations Survey for the second quarter. Fifty-nine percent of Filipino families, higher than the 50% last quarter, or about 10.6 million individuals rate themselves as “poor”. TNS Philippines, on the other hand, conducted a survey this August uncovering that 55% of their respondents expect their conditions to worse these coming months. This apparently contradicts the drooping poverty percentage mentioned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her SONA last July.
Since we achieved independence from the colonial powers, numerous solutions had proposed to reduce poverty. Unfortunately, it remains unsolved and miserably speaking, worsens everyday. Considering the statistics mentioned, this situation is indeed serious. And now that it is prevalent, it is time to realize that poverty is not a source of entertainment but an important argument to face.
Poverty as defined by World Bank’s 2000 World Report “is an unacceptable deprivation in human well-being that can comprise both physiological and social deprivation”. Such profound definition is incompatible for an ordinary Filipino who earns little to feed his eight children while living together in a paltry shelter. Poverty for him has simple definitions. It interweaves with hunger and inadequate shelter, being sick and unable to see a doctor, not having access to school and not knowing how to read, no job and fears for the future, and is living from hand-to-mouth. It yields hopelessness and shackles one’s freedom. It has many faces and differs from one form to another. It is a situation people want to escape.
So how can we uplift the lives of our thousands of suffering countrymen? How can we annihilate this impediment that restrains us towards sustainable progress?
This situation calls for everybody’s action. It demands public attention to seek for upright and long-term solutions so it may not burden the next generation of Filipinos.
Julius Nyerere, former president of the United Republic of Tanzania, once said, “Education is not a way to escape poverty; it is a way of fighting it”. Poverty is both a cause and an effect of insufficient access to or completion of quality education. The relationship between education and poverty reduction is very clear—educated people have higher income potential, thus improving the quality of their lives. Lack of education perpetrates poverty and poverty constrains access to schooling. Eliminating poverty requires access to quality education.
Education is recognized as a basic human right. It empowers individuals, strengthens their self-confidence, and provides nuggets of facts for future use. Yet, the country’s educational system is at risk as what the situation and statistics show. Allowing this to decline while doing nothing is wasting the quality of our human resources. The importance we give to education is insufficient compared to other countries. Let us invest more on education, not for corruption in the education sector. This is the most effective instrument in preparation for our economic take off. Furthermore, the fight to reduce poverty by intensifying our education field requires collaborative efforts from different sectors and from us, ordinary citizens. Remember that no country has ever succeeded if it has not educated its people.
The impact of education on poverty reduction tends to be less direct but it provides long-term benefits in many ways. Investing on education requires the improvement of certain aspects.
It starts with the appointment of officials who will hold positions in the education field. We should ensure their capability and competency to supervise the department and appropriate the funds which is the largest chunk from the national budget.
Then the subsiding numbers of our competent graduates due to abrupt shift from high school to college. They end up working in jobs though decent but do not require college education. We should consider the recommendations of Filipino educators in their Education Summit last January who proposed a two-year preparatory course after high school conforming to the 12-year global standard in basic education. This improves the quality of our workers, not the quality or quantity of jobs.
The teachers have critical roles in attaining our goals. Unfortunately, low salaries, interrupted benefits, and deferred pensions demotivate them in teaching. Let us pay our teachers well and grant what they deserve so they will no longer leave their families behind to work overseas. Let us not wait for another Anita Pamintuan who until her death does not grant her demand for salary increase. Expect our teachers to be more dynamic in their respective fields through different trainings which will enhance their teaching competencies.
With the 146-billion-peso budget for education this year, let us improve the students’ learning resources and environment. Let us ensure there will be no schools with no access to electricity, no running water, no toilets, no classrooms without ceilings, and no tables and chairs which have poor condition and hazardous to students. May the DepEd meet the standard 1:25 room to student ratio and achieve the standard 1:1 book to student ratio. Let us increase, from the current 12 pesos, the amount being spent for each student.
Let our schools be centers for various government programs like health care and nutrition, guidance and counseling services, environmental and patriotic advocacies, income generating activities, and community participation. An educated populace should have access to important information and other public issues.
Education is not only important in reducing poverty; it is also a key to wealth creation which is a significant aspect in education programs intended to contribute to poverty reduction.
Remember: “Non schola sed vita discimus” (We do not learn for school but for life).
