Hostage-taking focuses shabby RP education system
03/28/2007 | 05:20 PM
The seizure of a busload of students on Wednesday by a man demanding better schooling and housing for children put a glaring spotlight on the Philippines' deteriorating education system.
Overcrowded schools are using restrooms and hallways to accommodate a growing number of students, many of whom are failing to get even a basic education.
A recent national career assessment examination concluded that more than half of high-school students were unfit for further education. And the World Bank cited a 2003 study of trends in mathematics and science that ranked the Philippines in the lowest 10 percent of countries in both subjects.
The strains on schools -- among the most congested in the world -- apparently prompted hostage-taker Jun Ducat and at least one accomplice to seize 32 young children and two teachers from Ducat's day-care center in a slum area to demand better education for them.
"They are pitiful if they cannot study. As you know, it is the duty of the government to educate the poor in the squatters' area," Ducat said in statements broadcast over radio. "So please support me in this. I love these kids."
"The government has to understand. The politicians who are running in the elections need to understand the situation of the poor," he said. "Many promises are not fulfilled."
The Philippines once was acclaimed as a highly educated country, thanks to American missionaries and the US colonial government that introduced the English-language and public education system after the turn of the last century.
But starting in the late 1980s, as late dictator Ferdinand Marcos' martial law period drew to a close, the quality of education began declining, coupled with a deteriorating economic situation.
Millions of Filipinos started seeking jobs abroad, in part to finance their children's education back home. Today, about 8 million expatriates send home more than $10 billion annually.
In the 2003-04 school year, only 20 percent of grade six pupils and less than 1 percent of high school seniors had mastered the basics of key subjects, said the study cited by the World Bank.
Last year, as more than 17 million students trooped to public schools, many in dilapidated buildings with leaking roofs, the education secretary drew the president's ire by saying there was a shortage of almost 7,000 classrooms, with 45 pupils to a room.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the shortage was much less -- about 1,000 classrooms -- but admitted that the government would need to resort to double shifts in which rooms are used for two groups of children a day, with 50 students per class.
According to the Education Department, 17.8 million students are enrolled in government-run elementary and high schools, up 5 percent from last year. About 2.2 million go to private schools. - AP
Overcrowded schools are using restrooms and hallways to accommodate a growing number of students, many of whom are failing to get even a basic education.
A recent national career assessment examination concluded that more than half of high-school students were unfit for further education. And the World Bank cited a 2003 study of trends in mathematics and science that ranked the Philippines in the lowest 10 percent of countries in both subjects.
The strains on schools -- among the most congested in the world -- apparently prompted hostage-taker Jun Ducat and at least one accomplice to seize 32 young children and two teachers from Ducat's day-care center in a slum area to demand better education for them.
"They are pitiful if they cannot study. As you know, it is the duty of the government to educate the poor in the squatters' area," Ducat said in statements broadcast over radio. "So please support me in this. I love these kids."
"The government has to understand. The politicians who are running in the elections need to understand the situation of the poor," he said. "Many promises are not fulfilled."
The Philippines once was acclaimed as a highly educated country, thanks to American missionaries and the US colonial government that introduced the English-language and public education system after the turn of the last century.
But starting in the late 1980s, as late dictator Ferdinand Marcos' martial law period drew to a close, the quality of education began declining, coupled with a deteriorating economic situation.
Millions of Filipinos started seeking jobs abroad, in part to finance their children's education back home. Today, about 8 million expatriates send home more than $10 billion annually.
In the 2003-04 school year, only 20 percent of grade six pupils and less than 1 percent of high school seniors had mastered the basics of key subjects, said the study cited by the World Bank.
Last year, as more than 17 million students trooped to public schools, many in dilapidated buildings with leaking roofs, the education secretary drew the president's ire by saying there was a shortage of almost 7,000 classrooms, with 45 pupils to a room.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the shortage was much less -- about 1,000 classrooms -- but admitted that the government would need to resort to double shifts in which rooms are used for two groups of children a day, with 50 students per class.
According to the Education Department, 17.8 million students are enrolled in government-run elementary and high schools, up 5 percent from last year. About 2.2 million go to private schools. - AP
