Thursday, June 2, 2011

College years, the hardships and sad realities

As various issues students and parents had to face this school year are brought to the fore, I can’t help but reminisce the hardhips my parents had to endure to send my siblings and I to college.

Like many other aspiring college students, the University of the Philippines (UP) was my first choice of school. It was a real feat vying for a spot in the very limited slots UP has to offer for incoming freshmen. I was one of those who didn’t make it to UP.

Not wanting to stop schooling, I enrolled at Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in Sta. Mesa. Like UP, you also have to pass the entrance exam in order to be admitted. I wouldn’t have made it to college if there was no university like PUP, which charges the lowest tuition rate to date (P12 per unit). PUP was such a relief for parents who are just minimum wage earners.

When I entered college, there were already the three of us that my parents had to send to school. I was aware of the hardships my parents had to endure in order to send all three of us to college.

I realized halfway through college that it was not only the cost of tuition that my parents had to shoulder; there were the weekly or monthly allowance for food, transportation, books, and rental fee for my boarding house. (My older brother then had to live with my cousins in Marikina).

Back then, boarding houses charge around P700-P1,500 per boarder per month. Add to that the cost of books that every student is compelled to buy per subject. Books are a big source of racket for some professors in PUP. If your teacher happens to be the author of a particular book for your subject, he/she wouldn’t allow you to photocopy his/her books.

Realizing the hardships my parents had to endure, I was forced to work part-time. I worked during daytime and attended night school.

It was like that until my siblings and I finished college.

I used to think that this was a just normal case – that every aspiring college student had to look for ways to finish school or that it is normal not to finish college if parents cannot afford to send their children to school mainly due to financial difficulties.

But my case is not an isolated one. A few days back, news about an incoming college freshman who passed the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) facing the dilemma of not being able enroll as her parents, both jobless, cannot pay for the cost of tuition.

Every year, thousands of students flock to state funded schools in the hope of getting cheap but quality education. As in the case of UP, of the 60,000 students who took the exams, only 4,000 will be admitted this school year. In PUP, of the 70,000 who took the entrance test, only 6,000 to 7,000 will be admitted.

What fate await those who did not make it to the said schools? In the case of the thousands who didn't make it to UP or PUP, will they ever get to continue their studies? Probably, their parents, left with no choice, will send their children to a private school despite the high cost of tuition and other fees.

Access to education is deeply rooted to government neglect.* Government neglect is evident in the low percentage share the education sector gets from the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Philippines gets a measly 2.7% compared to Hong Kong's 3.7%, Japan's 3.4% and Korea's 4.2%. (The United Nation recommends that at least 6% of the country's GDP be allotted to education to ensure access and quality).

What can the government do to address major issues of our education sector?
The sorry state of Philippine education can be addressed if the government starts doing a major overhaul of the education system. Key issues such as quality, shortages, access, rising cost of education should be addressed. At the onset, the government should start reviewing its education policies such as the Higher Education Modernization Act (HEMA) and Education Act of 1982. All current government programs and actions that seek to address problems besetting our education sector would serve as simple palliatives if no serious and meaningful measures are achieved.

Laws that put our education sector further down to a very tragic state should be reviewed. Education should be given the highest budgetary allocation over debt-servicing and military spending.

Together, let us call on the national government to start doing its mandated responsibility of sending all children to school.

The State shall assign the highest budgetary allocation to education. (Article XIV, Sec. 5, Par 5, Philippine Constitution)

*2.3 million college students drop out every year according to the Commission on Higher Education

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