Opinion: Education in PHL by 2035

     President Benigno Aquino III cited in his last State of the Nation Address (SONA) that an additional investment in education was proposed within the 2016 budget.

     The government is eyeing the K to 12 Curriculum as the ‘solution’ to the problems that the education sector is facing. In fact, President Aquino said in his last SONA that the 10-year basic education cycle is not enough to prepare the youth in meeting the international standards and in bracing ourselves toward the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Integration.

     If the present administration focuses on enhancing this sector for the Filipinos, what would be the state of the Philippine education 20 years from now?

     It is believed that by 2035, education in our country will be fully developed. In a datum provided by the Department of Education (DepEd), 73.9 million textbooks were distributed to all public schools nationwide, and these will be followed by 88.7 other textbooks this 2015. And so, it is expected by that year all the learners’ materials would be revised and published. Also, many are anticipating that all the backlogs would be given attention to – such as hiring of well-equipped teachers, building of additional classrooms, providing of arm chairs, tables and other school supplies – that the government have started since the K to 12 has been implemented.

     In addition, education in our country would make a vast reform in uplifting our economic status. In a study that was made, 71.9 percent of the graduates of “Training for Work Scholarship Program” conducted by the government already found a job, compared to the 28.5 percent that was recorded before. And surprisingly, the electronics industry reached 91.26 percent employment rate this year, which was 8.74 percent closer to a hundred percent. Surely by 2035, the world market would ask greater necessities, especially when it comes to “Technical Vocational Skills.” Since the people’s knowhow depend on what they are taught in school, changing the face of education is a huge step to cope with the demands of that time. And now that the government made reforms in our curriculum, it is expected that our Senior High School (SHS) graduates by 2019 would have a higher level of credentials that are acceptable and applicable to the international standards, and they would be more globally competitive in terms of knowledge and skills.

     Furthermore, we also believe that 20 years from now, education will be more accessible to the Filipinos. As of 2010, an estimated 4.7 million added enrollees are anticipated until 2017. Also, the number of out-of-school youth went down by 1.7 million. These data show that the government is taking actions to make education reachable even for the unprivileged ones. And if this improvement will continue, we are hopeful that our nation will attain a higher literacy rate and a community with no “OSYs” in the future.

     We are positively looking forward to the continuous development of education in the Philippines. There are tons of opportunities that are waiting for us in our region and around the globe. And we strongly believe that we would be able to achieve the success of our country’s vision if we start to make a step towards a greater stage of education, 20 years at hand. 

*I wrote this editorial article for our school paper on 2015. This was our main editorial.