BEFORE COVID-19, one of the success stories of the Duterte administration was poverty alleviation. Between 2015 and 2018 (the most recent statistics available), poverty incidence fell from 23.3 percent to 16.6 percent. Since the population is well over 100 million, this means that there were about seven million less impoverished people in 2018 than there were three years earlier.
The pandemic has challenged the fight against poverty. People who were previously employed have become part of the informal economy with uncertain and probably reduced incomes. It is unlikely that there are less poor people now compared to 2018.
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The implementation of our education system is now under threat. In June 2019, 27.8 million students ‘trooped’ (the media like this word) to school. So far, only 22.3 million have enrolled for the 2020-2021 scholastic year). Uncertainties as to how our education process will be implemented have contributed to the five million students who are not currently part of the system.
On-line learning is likely to make a significant contribution to private sector schools but the financial challenges to be shouldered by families are substantial.
The Department of Education (DepEd) needs to work out the feasibility or otherwise of implementing on-line learning as a platform for the public sector education system.
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In the recent State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Duterte excoriated telecommunications providers Globe and Smart as to their performance. Globe quickly made a conciliatory response. As a result, Globe CEO Ernest Cu had what seems to have been a useful and constructive meeting with President Duterte in which Cu mentioned the lengthy approval processes which Globe had to go through before cell towers could be erected.
If online learning is to become relevant, however, we need to know how resilient our telecommunications networks are and whether they can currently meet user demands.
Globe offers its users the possibility of greater internet speeds (at an increased monthly rental) but makes no guarantees (“Up to x megabytes per second” is what Globe advertises which, of course, does not imply any firm commitment as to actual performance).
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The education budget for 2020 is over P600 billion and is due to increase in 2021. We live in uniquely challenging times but it is incumbent on DepEd to offer practical solutions.
So far it has not done so. It is high time that it quantifies the costs that it is asking parents to shoulder so that an articulate dialogue between DepEd and its stakeholders can ensue.
We need governance, underpinned by legislation where necessary, to determine how our children can receive Constitutionally-enshrined quality education./PN
