Chat with the children selling plastic in the market or linger with players in the neighborhood’s basketball court, chances are you’ll bump into children and youth who should be in school but are not. Similarly, chances are they are smart, sweet, and carefree as any Filipino child or youth but had to drop out because they could not afford the daily expenses related to schooling like baon, transportation, projects, and contributions. Many of them would also narrate that learning in school for them have become both difficult and boring.
The stereotypical portrayal of out-of-school youth as decadent, troubled, and lazy has become passé. In fact, being out of school has become a phenomenon in the Philippines so much so that it is a reality lived by almost 1/3 of our school-age children and youth — they number 5.8 million in 2004. The Department of Education (DepEd) reported that in school year 2007-2008, only 84.44% of children ages 6-11 years old had been enrolled and for secondary level, only 61.91% of youth ages 12-15 had enrolled. Even more unfortunate, one out of three of these students end up dropping out of school.
The incidence of out-of-school youth is felt nationwide and even worse in other regions. In Central Mindanao, the situation is almost twice as severe compared to what’s happening at the national level. The Education Watch done by Education Network (E-Net Philippines) together with the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE) in 2008, reports that 44% percent of school-age children and youth are missing out on education due to poverty and sporadic disruption of classes due to conflicts.
E-Net Philippines, a civil society network of more than 150 organizations nationwide has been calling for government’s urgent actions on this problem since 2000. The DepEd has implemented the Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) — a modular approach to elementary and high school learning implemented by the Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS) that allow children and youth to continue education through self-learning and group learning outside school. It also initiated Project REACH in 2008 in an effort to reach out to those girls and boys needing education in remote areas.
However, these programs are marginalized in the DepEd as they receive a miniscule budget compared to the overall DepEd funds. In 2009, the budget for A&E did not even reach 1% of the DepEd budget and only P800 has been the allotted for every learner. Such underinvestment and slow moves to improve the quality of these programs put to question the seriousness of the DepEd and government in general in addressing the growing number of those who are out of school.
To fill in the gap, many non-government and self-help organizations have started their own A&E programs to give poor Filipinos a second chance in education. Leah Felipe, a fourth year drop-out from Rizal High School Annex is one of the successful graduates of the A&E implemented by the Kilusan at Ugnayan ng Maralitang Pasigueño (KUMPAS). In 2004, Leah was forced to drop out because of pregnancy. When KUMPAS offered her the opportunity to continue her education, she joined one of the learning groups in 2007, took the DepEd administered A&E test in the same year, passed the test, and got her diploma in 2008. Now, Leah works in a gasoline station, with an income to feed her three children. More importantly, Leah said that the A&E helped her discover the self-confidence in overcoming challenges in her life.
E-Net Philippines believes that the A&E can be adapted to the different contexts of the Filipino learners. In the armed conflict areas, the network has worked closely with the Local Government Unit in Datu Paglas, Paglas, Tulunan, and Columbio in implementing the Learning-Livelihood System (LLS) which integrates enterprise development and livelihood skills with the DepEd’s A&E modules. But these LGUs, being in poor municipalities do not have enough funds to implement the LLS on a large scale. This is true with all the other NGOs and community organizations who are struggling to keep their A&E and functional literacy programs if it were not for the volunteerism of the community facilitators and parents.
Education is a basic right of every Filipino and the DepEd has to take on the leadership and main responsibility in addressing the education of those who are in school and NOT in school. The DepEd said that one way of addressing the drop-out is to improve the public education system. While this is true, E-Net Philippines also believes that those who are NOT in school deserve the same attention. The expansion of relevant and quality education programs for children, youth and even adults should start NOW!
Source: E-Net Philippines