|
|
YOUTH CATEGORY REGIONS AFFECTED BY HIGH TUITION FEES
In- School Youth 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, NCR
Out-of- School Youth 1, 5, 10, 12
Working Youth 5, 6, 12
Youth with Special Needs 12
The expensive nature of education has led the youth to conclude that education is a privilege, rather than a right. The following table specifies the sectors and regions affected by the inaccessibility of education, based on the Regional Youth Summits results.
YOUTH CATEGORY REGIONS AFFECTED BY INACCESSIBILITY OF EDUCATION
In- School Youth 5, 8, 9, CAR
Out-of- School Youth 1, 5, 6, CAR
Working Youth 5
Youth with Special Needs 3
The inaccessibility of education, and the high price it takes to obtain it is further aggravated by the fact that scholarships are hard to acquire because of stringent requirements (reported by Region 1, 9, 11, NCR), or these were not fairly distributed (according to representatives of Region 1, 9, 11, 12, CAR and NCR).
3. Quality of Education
Besides improving access, more effort must be exerted to raise the quality of education. Data culled over the years provide an alarming picture: from 1983 to the present, the drop-out rate among high school students has steadily increased from 6.04% in SY 1988-89 to 13.02% in SY 1999-2000. The completion rate, which measures the proportion of students finishing high school, has generally shown that 25-30% of high school students never get to do it. (NYC, 1998 and NEDA, April 2001)
The decline in the quality of education is commonly attributed to inadequate or inappropriate government spending. Though DECS’ budget has consistently gotten the largest share of the total budget for social services since as far back as 1975, much of this has gone to pay for personal services (salaries and other forms of compensation). For example, in 1987 personal services had a 68.9% share in the DECS budget; this had risen to 89.1% by 1998. On the other hand, a very small percentage is spent on good and adequate textbooks, laboratories, libraries and other learning facilities, maintenance and repair of dilapidated classrooms, etc. Exacerbating the problem is, of course, corruption; for example, textbooks for public schools marked “Government Property: Not for Sale” often find their way in retail vending outlets (HDN, 2000)
Comparison of Textbooks per Pupil in Elementary and Secondary Public Schools (selected years and subjects)
Year Elementary High School
TOTAL* Eng Sci Math Social Studies TOTAL* Eng Sci Math Social Studies
1983 2.39 1.11 0.16 0.26 0.13 3.25 0.61 0.45 0.58 0.83
1989 3.12 0.93 - 0.65 0.65 no data -o- -o- -o- -o-
1994 3.72 0.88 - 0.62 1.24 3.38 0.65 0.44 0.38 1.53
1995 2.96 0.69 - 0.43 1.01 2.52 0.49 0.31 0.29 1.15
1997 3.44 0.94 - 0.69 1.06 1.21 0.18 0.19 0.20 0.42
1998 2.50 0.72 - 0.54 0.42 1.03 0.17 0.11 0.22 0.34
1999 1.38 0.42 - 0.33 0.38 0.60 0.11 0.13 0.15 0.11
* includes books for Filipino
The preceding table shows in detail two important facts:
· over the years but especially from 1995, high school student were given fewer textbooks and have had to share their books
· that government could not adequately cope with the burgeoning demand for textbooks, due to various reasons, is evidenced by the remarkably low textbook-student ratio among high school students by the time of the Estrada administration in 1999
The shortage of textbooks was also raised by participants of the Regional Youth Summits. According to delegates from Region 3, 8, and 11, there was a glaring lack of textbooks in their respective schools.
Besides the lack of textbooks, the situation of teachers has a lot to do with the decline in quality. Statistics culled from 1945/46 to 1996/97 show that the number of teachers had steadily risen over the 30 year-period with annual growth rate of 5.4%. Presently numbering to around 600,000 (in public and private schools), teachers constitute the largest professional occupation in the country. But such a large teaching force is still unable to cope with the even larger student population. While the pupil-teacher ratio in SY 1997-98 was 35:1 in public elementary schools and 34:1 in public secondary schools, such numbers do not represent actual class sizes, which better reflect the learning conditions that students face. The average class size for public elementary schools is 41, and 50 for public high schools. (HDN, 2000) It must be noted, however, that “average class size” provides a incomplete picture, in that regional disparities in class size abound, with communities in far-flung rural areas and depressed urban areas having a class size of as much as 70 students at a time.
Region 6 is one sample. According to In-School Youth in the area, the pupil-teacher ratio is 70:1. Participants from this region complained that it was hard enough that they have to walk 3 to 7 kilometers everyday to reach their school, but to hold it under trees, together with 69 other students is just too much.
|
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
VOICEMASTER
Visit my site www.voty.org and www.lktkr.8m.com
www.kabataan.htmlplanet.com
|
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
