Education: Best Weapon Against Poverty

Yesterday, my husband and I attended Teaching Night.  Every third Tuesday of the month, leaders of Couples for Christ flock to Meralco Theater (the previous venue was the gymnasium of Xavier School in San Juan) for the Mission Core Group (MCG) Teaching Night.  The MCG is composed of senior leaders of Couples for Christ.  My husband and I have been attending it for the past four years.

For the numerous times that we have attended Teaching Night, yesterday's topic is one of those which tugged at my heartstrings.  The guest speaker for the night was Sec. Armin Luistro, FSC of the Department of Education.  He rattled off with statistics which underscored the sad state of the Philippine's public education system.  The Philippine public educational system just like the ones in other countries is free and available to all citizens.  Despite it being accessible to everyone, Sec. Luistro lamented that not all pupils who enrolled in grade 1 is sure to graduate.  A big percentage or 33% of the total grade 1 population will join the ranks of dropouts. There are many factors why these children drop out of school and foremost of all is economic, they are just too poor to afford school supplies, jeepney fare and what more personal things like a toothbrush.  

The good secretary mentioned that quite a number of dropouts stopped going to school altogether because of a simple toothache, a toothache that could mean a two-week absence from school.  By the time the toothache is gone,  should the child elect to go back to school, he will have difficulty in catching up with his classmates.  Most of the time, the child leaves the school for good and is unlikely to return. A study by the National Education Testing Center shows that the earlier the child drops out, the greater the likelihood of his reverting to illiteracy.  

I am a strong advocate for education being the most potent weapon against poverty and I have written articles in the past about the importance of education: Ancop's Child Sponsorship Program, Bravo Khan Academy!, and My Bucket List Part 2.  I am fortunate and happy that I am a member of Couples for Christ and has been a volunteer for Gawad Kalinga and Ancop for quite a time thus giving me a firsthand account of life in the slums.  Building them houses in different colors of the rainbow, no matter how noble the intentions are, sadly does not alleviate them from their present predicament.  The root of the problem of poverty like inadequate/poor quality of education and/or no education at all, should be the one addressed instead of palliative measures (I need not elaborate on this so as not to offend others who have a different point of view as that of mine).

Before ending his talk, Sec. Luistro pleaded for prayers for him who is at the helm of the Department of Education and for his staff who collectively have the gargantuan task of preparing the young for a bright future through education.  Aside from prayers, he also hinted that there are several ways of helping.  To know the kind of help that a public school needs, one just have to go to a nearby public school and talk to the principal.  Different schools have different needs.

Before the schoolyear 2011-2012 opens next month, let us think of ways to make learning more effective.  Let us open our eyes, ears and most specially, our hearts.

Related Reading:

• Learning to Stay in School

Ancop's Child Sponsorship Program

Since the start of 2010 to the present, Jun and I are the Ancop Coordinators for our cluster.  Ancop is the acronym for ANSwering the Cry Of the Poor and is founded by Couples for Christ to consolidate its local and global efforts in building the Church of the Poor to achieve total Christian liberation.  Sounds so high falluting.  In simple terms, it means helping to improve the lot of the less fortunate and the marginalized.

Ancop has been around for more than ten years already, it predates Gawad Kalinga, but it was relaunched on December 8, 2010.  It has five programs, namely; Education, Livelihood, Community Development, Health and Shelter.  For our sector, West C, we have a sixth program, Ancop Learning Center (a pre-school).

What I like about Ancop is its thrust on education.  The Child Sponsorship Program (under the Education program) is a child/youth sponsorship by a donor partner.  With the CSP, as it is commonly called, a child can realize his dream of a college education and hopefully a better life.  To become a donor, he doesn't have to fork out a big chunk of his savings.  For a minimum of P11,000/year or P30/day, he makes a lasting imprint on the life of the child.  

I believe that the best help one can give to the poor is through education.  Knowledge from continued education is something that a child can bring and use as an armor to life's many battles.  When a child has a college diploma tucked under his belt, he has better chances of landing a regular job thus breaking the notorious practice of hiring for contractual employment in the country.  Can you imagine the kind of future he will have when he has to find another job every five months?  Because he is always new in his job, he is perpetually a minimum wage earner living on a hand to mouth existence.

It is my fervent wish that this article will be able to touch your hearts, my dear readers.  If I will be able to convince one reader to become a donor, I say that all is not lost on mankind.  There is still hope for the poor.