Poverty in the Philippines

Earlier this week, I wrote to my contacts both in the Philippines and in South Korea asking them about their experiences and thoughts on poverty in their part of the world. I was happy to hear back from Fran, my contact in the Philippines.  Fran currently works as a preschool teacher in a private catholic school in a more affluent village in the Philippines. Although she doesn’t have first-hand experience working with children and families from low-income/poor communities in the Philippines, she was able to give me some insights into the experiences of children throughout her country in general.

The Philippines is an archipelago, a collection of over 7000 islands. According to Fran, this makes establishing public schools in distant locations rather difficult. Since schools are few, children from far away towns often have to walk long distances just to attend classes.  Some need to walk miles, swim across rivers or climb up/down a mountain to go to school.  Resources such as textbooks and school supplies are also scarce in schools that are far from cities.In addition, there is a continuous shortage of teachers and each year the government struggles to find enough teachers in order to meet the educational needs of the students. According to Fran, the government just recently passed a ‘K+12’ bill to offer Kindergarten through the public schools. Several schools were able to offer it last year but had limited resources. A school Principal that Fran had spoken to had said that they were not able to offer Kindergarten at their school last year due to the lack of a qualified teacher. The principal hoped that the Department of Education would be able find a suitable teacher for their Kindergartners this year. Aside from these issues, many students from poorer families don’t get the opportunity to finish their education.  Since they are poor and need to earn a decent income to make sure that their families get to eat at least twice a day, parents would sometimes ask their children to "work" instead of go to school since going to school would incur expenses for the family. 

Recognizing the plight of children throughout the country and the barriers they face in getting access to education, according to Fran, the Philippines government has programs in place that aim to make education free and accessible.  Each year, more schools are being built and more teachers are being employed.  The private sector has also stepped in to support public schools nationwide by partnering with them in building more classrooms, improving facilities or by giving dole-outs in the form of school supplies, furniture etc.  According to Fran, the outreach program at her school is currently working with a community in Manila, supporting the education of the children there by providing catechesis or religious lessons. 
Fran hopes that these measures will eventually lead to a day when all children in the Philippines will have equal access to education.
           

Hearing from Fran about the many hardships children in the Philippines have to face due to poverty was very eye-opening. Having to swim across rivers or climb a mountain each day to attend school is unimaginable to me. Choosing to work instead of going to school just so the family can eat shouldn’t be a choice a young child has to make. Reading about poverty here in the United States and the state of things in the Philippines and thinking about my own experiences in Sri Lanka, I have come to realize that poverty manifests itself in so many forms throughout the world. Although the causes of poverty, the challenges children and families face as a result of poverty and the approaches to eliminating poverty many differ across regions, the effects of poverty on children remain the same. While reducing/eliminating poverty continues to be a challenge faced by populations throughout the world, we educators have an incredible responsibility in supporting children affected in any way we can in our classrooms and most of all advocating for children and making our governments aware of policy change, funding and programs needed to support families to transition out of poverty. On the topic of funding I realize that many developing countries depend on funding and resources from countries like the US to support their community development efforts and in their fight against poverty. While I don’t doubt that funds sent abroad is much needed and have a positive impact on those communities, I wonder about families and communities right here in the US who needs those funds just as much in their own struggles with poverty.