PBA 2: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, SOLIDARITY, AND CITIZENSHIP

NAME: John Lennard Costuna GRADE: 12 HUMSS

EDUCATION FOR ALL, ALL FOR EDUCATION

Human rights, according to the United Nations (1948), are the inherent rights of all
human being, meaning that everyone is entitled to the following without discrimination:
right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and
expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Regardless of what you are,
your religion, race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, or other status, you have a basic human
right.

The human right issue that I want to advocate for is the right to education. In a
recent study conducted by the Global Education Monitoring Report in 2016, it was found
that 61 million children have no access to basic education, and almost 758 million adults
are illiterate because they have no form of education whatsoever. With the initiative of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, it is said that the right to education is a
fundamental human right, wherein every individual is entitled to free elementary
education. The declaration of the right to education is not only for its accessibility, but also
for the quality of education. The right to education is essential for the utilization of the
other human rights. Without education, we would not know what other basic rights we
have. Education promotes freedom, empowerment, and development of the individual.
As stated by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, “Education is a
powerful tool by which economically and socially marginalized adults and children can lift
themselves out of poverty and participate fully as citizens.” Thus, education is a right that
helps us to exercise our other rights.

The reason why I chose this human right issue is because I have noticed here in
the country of the Philippines, the lack of education and basic literacy skills of a part of
the population. Here in the Philippines, education is known as a “privilege” as only those
who have money can go to school. The education system of the Philippines is something
that I would like to change. There are two things that stood out of the issues in the
education system of the Philippines, and those are quality, relevance. The quality of the
Philippine education system is deteriorating because of the poor quality of teachers,
mismanagement of the schools, substandard facilities (classrooms, laboratories, and
libraries), poor learning environment, and irrelevant curriculum content. In the Philippines,
there have been records of students who aren’t able to read and write well when they
reach junior high school, as the teachers just let them pass because it will affect the
school’s standing. This is the sad reality of the Philippines. People are seeing education
as a burden and not as something that will help them. Furthermore, the education system
here makes employees not employers. I mean it is not bad to create a strong work force,
but we should be able to become people who will create more jobs in the future.

By promoting the advocacy of education, we will be able to empower the people,

address poverty, and contribute to the development of the human being. According to the
United Nations Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon, education opens opportunities in the job market,
as it combats inequality, promotes environmental stewardship and fosters solidarity.
Education empowers the knowledge, skills, and values of the human person in order to
build a better world. An individual can bring forth change and progress in education by
empowering and advocating for it. By starting small, by empowering the smaller units of
society, and little by little, it can grow to become great. By having an advocacy, it means
holding onto something precious for you. It means that you want this thing to happen for
it can help change the world. Empowerment creates self-confidence, builds relationships,
and practices self-control, in order to achieve the end goal. Advocacy may include one to
take certain risks and fight off authorities to protect the rights of the people. Advocating
and empowering for education can help resolve the issue on education. It may seem too
farfetched but when we start to work together, hand-in-hand, we can attain the end goal
that we all want to achieve, to create a better education system for all.

To solve this issue via our empowerment and advocacy, we must start first on the
empowerment of the educators. We must improve the way of teaching of these educators,
and letting them realize the true value of education, that they will serve as a guide to
create the future of the world. Next, we must create a program of education for all, wherein
they won’t have to pay a huge amount of money just to enter a school. We must advocate
for the improvement of the facilities and the materials of the learners. After which, we
must empower people, especially out-of-school-youths, to gain confidence and start to go
to school. With these steps, we will be able to create a program for education advocacy
and empowerment. With the slogan being, “EDUCATION FOR ALL, ALL FOR
EDUCATION.”
 References:

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education#:%7E:text=Studies%20and%20fact%2Dfinding%20commissions,the%

20content%20of%20the%20curriculum%3B

Enicola, P. (2021, September 1). Education Issues in the Philippines: The Ongoing

Struggle. ChildHope Philippines. Retrieved February 18, 2022, from

https://childhope.org.ph/education-issues-in-the-philippines/

Markham, C. (2014, October 23). Education that empowers. CAP. Retrieved February

18, 2022, from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/education-that-

empowers/

Right to Education : Situation around the world. (2018, February 22). Humanium.

Retrieved February 18, 2022, from https://www.humanium.org/en/right-to-

education/#:%7E:text=Today%2C%20education%20remains%20an%20inaccess

ible,and%20those%20of%20their%20children.

The right to education. (n.d.). Norad. Retrieved February 18, 2022, from

https://www.norad.no/en/front/thematic-areas/education/right-to-education/

Understanding education as a right. (n.d.). Right to Education Initiative. Retrieved

February 18, 2022, from https://www.right-to-education.org/page/understanding-

education-right

UNESCO. (2021, December 10). What you need to know about the right to education.

Retrieved February 18, 2022, from https://en.unesco.org/news/what-you-need-

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education#:%7E:text=The%20Universal%20Declaration%20of%20Human,Conve

ntion%20against%20Discrimination%20in%20Education.

United Nations. (n.d.). Human Rights. Retrieved February 18, 2022, from

https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/human-

rights#:%7E:text=Human%20rights%20are%20rights%20inherent,and%20educat

ion%2C%20and%20many%20more.