Name:Ivan Yao

Grade and section: 12 - A

Course Description: English for Academic and Professional Purposes

Inaccessible Education Causes Generational Poverty in the

Philippines

In the Philippines, everybody from all walks of life can see and stress how essential an
education is to climb the social ladder. With some families even sacrificing clothing and other
wants just to funnel their savings to send even one of their multiple children through school, with
the hope that the child becomes the family’s breadwinner. The better the education you have
undergone, your opportunities and ability to climb the social ladder increases. This is a problem
for people who are not able to get an education as they are cast off to the side and unable to
climb out of poverty because of the steep buy-in price and overall inaccessibility of education,
thus causing some families never being able to secure stable futures for their descendants.

Though it can be argued that poverty can be addressed through other means such as
government welfare and livelihood programs, these initiatives are just as good as the efforts of
the current administration. A change of cabinet can turn these initiatives into money sinks where
taxes can be pilfered and drained; Even if these programs were effective when they were
implemented, the quality of service provided and continuity cannot be ensured when leaders are
changed; Even then, to make these people reliant on the government for stability does not protect
them from the whims of the administration, as it does not allow them the social and economic
mobility that is required to push into the ranks of the bourgeoisie. Government programs are
reliant on government funding, which is in turn reliant on the taxpayers; Instead of providing
opportunities and calling it a day, it is better to give them the opportunity to create opportunities
for themselves.

According to Article 26 of the UDHR, education is a right. But in the Philippines,

education is getting less and less accessible for lower income families due to many factors such
as lack of decent schools, lack of steady income with some families forcing their children to
work so they would be able to have food on the table and a roof over their head. In 2010, out of
55 million youths, only 66% would eventually finish grade six, 43% would graduate high school
and only 20% would have finished college. This leaves 80% of the population without a college
degree in an employment battlefield which heavily favors potential instead of experience, thus
leaving the less fortunate to fend for themselves with grits and shoulder grease just to leave their
children with the oh so common inheritance of debt and poverty. Another factor that makes it
difficult to earn an education is the urban planning of the Philippines. The Philippines, as we all
know, is a country that is run by lizards and cars. The country is built on an American template
of urban planning that relies on cars as the main mode of transportation. This has led even the
poorest of families to purchase automobiles to unlock various opportunities. Faced with this
dilemma, the lizards with the help of JICA, expanded and redesigned the Philippines’ rail
system, a rail system that leaves much to be desired due to how restricted and unreliable it is.
Ideally, this rail system would span throughout the country and would be convenient for the
people in the country’s most remote barrios, transporting people in a more efficient and cost
effective manner compared to automobiles. This would already be bad if this was the only
problem; However, the quality of public education in the Philippines is far worse compared to
their private counterparts, many public schools are under equipped and understaffed because of
corrupt officials and a certain Duterte who has no experience and knowledge in the field of
education as the vice president of the Department of Education. This causes a terrible trickle
down effect where decisions made by lizards are crushing the potential of every public school
student, students who are destined to forge the country’s future. The inferior quality of public
education places the average public school student at a disadvantage when competing against
more fortunate private school students when competing for admission to public universities,
universities that are cheap and accessible to every student. The problem not only lies in
education, but it also lies in the battlefield that can decide your economic status that we call an
HR office. Most companies in the Philippines would rather hire a degree holder or vocational
course certificate holder instead of an equally qualified and experienced non degree holder. This
makes it very difficult to find employment with the experience that you earned if you do not hold
a degree. This makes it difficult to find jobs even with previous work experience as companies
value potential over experience. The government tried to fix this dilemma through the
implementation of the K-12 program which was marketed to the masses as a means to
employment after basic education and as a means to bring the standard of education up to the
international standard. Despite these promises, our educational system fails to deliver on both of
them as 1) Employers are still hesitant to hire K-12 graduates who do not have certification past
the one gained from compulsory education, even if they graduated from the TVL
(technical-vocational-livelihood) strand 2) It is unrealistic to assume that every child will get the
same quality of education, thus more time and money spent in school could very well be useless.

With the information that has been laid out, there is no question that the inaccessibility of
opportunity and inferior quality of education places learners of less fortunate financial
background at a disadvantage for employment, thus disadvantageous to their progeny which
causes and perpetuates the chain of poverty. This education crisis in the Philippines hinders us
from creating a strong and independent middle class which results in the gap between rich and
poor to worsen, causing lower long term GDP growth which cripples the potential to generate
funds which could be used to provide aid to those in poverty. The problems of education and
poverty are multifaceted, interrelated, and correlated; One cannot be solved without addressing
the other, and one’s perpetuation is dampened by the curing of the other. Coordinated movement
and properly executed government initiatives are non-negotiable to solve just one of the factors
that cause poverty and or unsatisfactory quality of education. Though it can be argued that
circumstances are the main driver for poverty, I state that poor education creates poor
circumstances, for with educated citizens, we are able to better understand the cards dealt to us to
create better outcomes.

References:
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https://www.imoney.ph/articles/cost-private-school-philippines
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Hallare, K. (2021, November 2). Why Metro Manila is an urban planning ‘Mess,’ according to

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OneNews.PH.

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https://www.philstar.com/business/2023/06/09/2272433/were-losing-private-schools

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Punongbayan, J. (2023, April 28). [ANALYSIS] How can we fix K to 12? RAPPLER.

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