Increasing Rate of Out-of-School Youth and Hunger in the Philippines

Bon, Maricar P.
Dela Cruz, Ella Janelle
Fajarillo, Jhareign Joy M.
Manela, Cynthea
Pascua, Jamie Rose
 I. Introduction

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
– Nelson Mandela
Education is believed as the key to open the door of success and fulfillment. A symbol of
freedom and it plays a critical role in the integration of individual entities. However, not all are
given chances and opportunities to have an education particularly the out-of-school youth. Jose
Rizal once said, “the youth is the hope of our nation”, and we, as a group of students from
Manila Tytana Colleges, we offer a project that can be a solution to the issue of lack of education
among those who lose the valuable opportunity to learn.
This project has a mission to educate and nurture Filipino youth in becoming better and
responsible citizens of our nation. Likewise, this is in align with the mission of Department of
Education (DepEd) to protect and promote the right of every Filipino to have quality, equitable,
culture-based, and complete basic education. We have resilient belief that every Filipino should
have at least fundamental knowledge which may used to mitigate the challenges of life since
they will become the strength of our country. And in the case of the out of school youth, no one
should be left behind in leading the nation toward progressive form.
We are hoping for the considerate support of other government institutions like
Department of Social Welfare Development (DSWD) and Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority (TESDA) for both have concern in educating and developing Filipinos,
and as well as private sectors such as UNICEF, Metrobank and GT Foundation which offer
volunteerism activities for education. May this scheme will properly and successfully execute.
 II. Rationale

The growing numbers of out of school youth is one of the top concerned of the
Philippines. Based on the 2016 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) by the Philippine
Statistics Authority (PSA), one in every 10 Filipinos aged between 6 and 24 years is an out-of-
school child/youth. It also stated, "Of the 3.8 million out of school youths (OSCYs), 87.3 percent
were 16 to 24 years old, 7.7 percent were 12 to 15 years old and 5.0 percent were 6 to 11 years
old.” According to APIS, the most common reasons among OSCYs for not attending school
were marriage or family matters (42.3 percent), high cost of education or financial concerns
(20.2 percent), and lack of personal interest (19.7 percent). Among females, marriage or family
matters were the main reason for not attending school with 59.3 percent; while it was the lack of
personal interest among males with 36.5 percent. Nationwide, about 53 percent of OSCYs
belong to families whose income fall at the bottom 30 percent based on their per capita income.

In his essay titled “Out of School Youth”, Luis Antonio Claudio (2014) indicated that
there are certain roots to the problem of out of school youth in our country. One of the main
reason of is the extreme poverty. Despite of free education that the government has offered,
many of the it students unlikely to go to school because of financial incapability. Instead of
pursuing the education that they needed, they are more focus to the false inhibitions and be
certain at a work without credentials. Another cause is the bad vices. It can’t deny the fact that
some students stop their schooling because of addicting to the vices like drinking liquors,
smoking, drug addiction and even bad peer pressure which affect their perspectives on education.
The third is the laziness. Students become indolence because of the lack of motivation that
should keep them going.
The impacts of out of school youth can be felt in all aspects. According to data from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, high school dropouts are having a harder time finding and keeping
jobs than individuals with higher levels of education. The critical disadvantage that high school
dropouts confronts is lowered economic gains when compared to high school graduates. Burrus
and Roberts (2012) in their article titled “Dropping Out of High School: Prevalence, Risk
Factors and Remediation Strategies” stated that a high school dropout will earn $375,000 (PHP
19,173,750 in current rate) or less over his lifetime than an individual with a diploma.
On the other hand, for Senator Sonny Angara (2013), out of school youth can be an asset
to Philippine economy if the special technical, vocational and skills centers would be established
for the sector. He also added that they should be trained to become useful citizens of the country.
The project which we intended to propose will be a significant endeavor to provide
necessary education that out of school youth needed. Likewise, this will motivate and inspire
them to learn more and make them realize that education is a contributing factor in achieving
success.
 III. Project Description

Goals and Objective

Enhancing the overall education and health condition of out of school youth by
establishing an accessible form of basic education to the Filipino youth of various ages
situated in slum areas by providing educational support through simulated classroom
environments while providing nourishing food.

Expected Accomplishments
EA1 The out of school youth have attained the basic reading and writing skills taught and
are able to handle advanced lessons of grade 2 and grade 3 levels of basic education.
EA2 Create a positive impact on the socio-economic issue of literacy in the community.
EA3 Improved health conditions concerned with nutrition within a given community.

Indicators of Achievement
IA1 Improved literacy rate in a given area as of attaining basic reading and writing skills
by children.
IA2 Positive feedback from the learners of the project and the community they belong to.
IA3 Decreased malnutrition of out of school youth within a given community.

Main Activities
A1.1 Organizing a fundraiser to reach a minimum amount of capital needed to establish
the projects needs such as procurement of teaching materials and food to be distributed to
the participating out of school youth of the project.
A1.2 Procurement and assembling of needed materials in the implementation of the
project.
A1.3 Recruitment and training of volunteers who would be willing to go into the field
and sacrifice a bit of their time to teach children from slum areas basic education.
A2.1 Selecting which areas must first be prioritised in implementing the project and is
within the target of reach of the projects objectives.
A2.2 Implementation of the project within the specified areas of the given community.
 IV. Project Needs and Cost
The budget of the project will depend on the fundraiser held. The money that was raised will be
used as the capital for this project. Materials that will be purchased include: Chalks which ranges
from 300-500 pesos, and food for the children such as bread and beverage which costs about
500-1000 pesos.
Equipment to be used are Chalkboards, which amounts to an estimate of 3000 pesos and a
second-hand side car, which the pencils and other materials will be placed in, with an estimated
price of 8000 pesos, which equals to 11800-12500 pesos all in all.
Volunteers who are willing to undergo training and teach the children basic education will be
sought without any compensation given in return.
These materials and personnel will help solve the problem of high illiteracy rate and famine in
the Philippines. The roles of these variables may be small, but when put together, makes a huge
difference and makes up a whole.