BASED ON UNESCO STUDY ON FILIPINO CHILDREN’S EDUCATION: EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN, ANOTHER FAILING GRADE FOR ARROYO GOVERNMENT

Manila, Philippines , 02 December 2008 - The Arroyo government must be held accountable over the millions of children who have been
deprived of opportunity for education during her term. This is the main reaction of the SALINLAHI Alliance for Children’s Concerns, a group advocating for children’s rights and welfare, to the UNESCO report that “children in the poorest 20 percent receive five years less education than children from the
wealthiest families”. 

According to Salinlahi Spokesperson, Alphonse Rivera, the data is validated by statistics showing
the increase by 3.3 Million of Out-of-School Youths aged 11 to 15 years ofage.  “Many children are forced to stop schooling because of poverty.  For one, more and more families can no longer afford to send children to school due to high costs of school projects and requirements, transportation and food for the children’s “baon”.  Secondly, the family needs all able-bodied members to work in order to augment their meager income.”  Data from IBON Research show that 20 in 100 Filipino families have child laborers.

The UNESCO study blamed governments and international aid donors for not taking on the task of
reducing global inequalities in education due to political indifference, weak domestic policies and the failure of aid donors to act on commitments.  ”In the Philippines, it is the intentional disregard of the Arroyo government for the plight of basic sectors such as the farmers and the working class that is the main cause of such failure in education.  Children are necessarily affected if the demands of their own sectors are not addressed. The economic situation of these sectors must first be uplifted for other concerns to be resolved,” Rivera said.

Adding to this fact is that the Arroyo government is more concerned on pocketing people’s money over and above the delivery of basic services such as health and education as exemplified by the corruption-riddled cyber education project of the DepEd. In the guise of narrowing the digital divide, government officials created a cash cow instead of providing for the educational needs of the children. 

Rivera added that the UNESCO study boosted Salinlahi’s resolve to mobilize children from urban poor communities today, in support of the Araw ng Maralita mobilization.  “Children should be aware of the reasons why their families are unable to survive decently, why they cannot go to school, why at a young age they had to work for the family to survive.”  At the same time, Rivera added that the children should also be aware of the reasons why people in the government like Joc-joc Bolante, Nani Perez and even administration lawmakers can get away with millions of pesos in their pockets while they wallow in ignorance and poverty.  “For us, this is the best education they can get out of the classroom because it
teaches them the reality of corruption and inequality, as well as assertion of rights and collective action of oppressed people,” Rivera concluded. ###