Right to Quality Education Neglected in Duterte’s Skewed Priorities

A lot has happened Ssince the reopening of the school year last October 5, there has been with little to
no improvement on the quality and access to education for our youth. The Duterte administration
continues to neglect the education sector by not prioritizing the basic needs for quality education to
continue amid athe pandemic and after the string of storms that hit many parts of Luzon the country last
month.

Despite still having The high numbers of COVID casespandemic is still not held in check., still having On
top of that, many Filipinos are unemployed and more youth not being are unable to continue their
education because of connectivity issues and lack of access., Teachers and school officials are crying out
for support and protection in the performance of their tasks.
the Duterte administration has been pre-occupied with its red-tagging campaign against its critics and
the opposition.

After the string In the wake of storms that hit different parts of the country last month, we saw the
vulnerability of many children, especially the poor—they are the first, to loseing access to quality
education. Several mModules were damaged by the floods, gadgets of both teachers and students using
online modes were destroyed, and millions of pesos in damages to schools surfaced. yetBut all the
Department of Education can offer teachers are were loans and statements to take the “initiative” in
coping with the losses. leaving many sSchools, teachers, and school personnel are in the main left to
their own devices to find solutions on their own to address the damaged modules and gadgets so that
children would still be able to continue education, with DepEd apparently forgetting that its employees
are themselves victims of the disasters and pandemic. Despite teachers’ the heroic efforts of teachers,
many children would rather opt to drop out of their classes.

But the Duterte administration is pre-occupied with its red-tagging campaign against those who point
out these problems and push for the solutions.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers and ACT Teachers Party-lList have been echoing the demands of
teachers, students, and parents for the Duterte administration to prioritize the budget for access to
quality education, only to be met with red-tagging and vilification of our organizations, leaders, and
members for simply fighting for their rights and welfare. It is high time that the Duterte administration
set its priorities straight and solve the health, economic and education crisies the Filipino people have
been enduring. MA militaristy solutions, such as painting progressives as “enemies of the state,” will not
solve the health, economic and education criseis. It will only encourage more people to stand up and
express dissent into against the administration’s skewed priorities amid the many crises we are facing
today. #