The Inequitable Supremacy
Student activists in the main have always believed in the line, “Education is a right, not a privilege.” Being exposed to the unfiltered mass media as a former Journalism student, I know for a fact that this line has always been bellowed in rallies since time immemorial; a line that indicates how crooked our educational system is, a line that still infiltrates and burns within my heart.
At the present time, you don’t have to hear various students utter these words of anguish anymore; not for the grounds that an improvement occurred in our educational system, but because it is not necessary for it to be verbalized for us to know that the problem behind it still exists. You can easily see it in the eyes of those who are struggling to read and write even without electricity, the eyes of those who have nothing to eat in school, the eyes of those who dream to graduate as they sell bread or collect junk to earn money for school expenses. These are the stories told by the eyes of the deprived—the eyes of the victims of selective education.
Everyone has experienced selective education at some point in time. From the provinces to the cities, no one is exempted. Usually, it can be observed in admission tests to schools which offer quality education. But is that all there is to it? Contrary to popular belief, selective education is including but not limited to measuring one’s intelligence quotient. Education, for me, is selective when it becomes a privilege. That is, when education becomes inaccessible due to poverty, poor academic performance, physical or mental disabilities, and community civilization, among others.
Philippine Agenda’s documentary film entitled, “Edukasyon” portrayed this in accordance with our deteriorating educational system in both the rural and urban setting. Clearly, it served as either an eye-opener to some or a reminder for those who have already neglected the problem. For me, it was the latter. Watching the documentary is a nudge to my sleeping consciousness and a poke to my nationalistic heart. It made me question everything in a critical view and look beyond the lenses of what the documentary has focused on as a reason for selective education; which is corruption.
Jessica Soho, the host of the film, opened with a reminder of the approaching 2010 elections and ended with a prompt to wisely choose whom to put in authority; which made the viewers focus the blame of selective education on the government alone. Looking at the surface level, corruption really does has a big say in providing a public formal education, especially in the rural areas, because the bureau holds the key to our resources. This is somehow true as it is stated in Article XIV, Section 4, Paragraph (5) that the State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education. But seeing our present situation, it seemed otherwise.
For me, it all boils down to poverty. Various scenes in the film have depicted how poverty hinders one from going to school; in more detail, how a child can’t go to school because he or she has no baon. It’s easy to see how poverty causes malnutrition and how malnutrition leads to selective education. Now, should we put the blame on the authorities for this? No. Food provision is not the responsibility of the education bureaucracy. It is the responsibility of the parents. Looking closely at the film, I keep on wondering why the parents let their children work to earn money when it is their job to do so. More often than not, this leads to the child performing poorly in class.
As a public elementary school graduate, I know the perks of being included in the star section and how it significantly affects your condition in school. From the best classrooms to the more competent teachers, the higher sections get it all; leaving the residue (i.e. cracked black boards, dilapidated classrooms) to the lower sections. What the documentary has failed to point out is how other factors like academic performance contribute to the allocation of these resources, resulting to selective education. Mind you, this is just elementary level. Selective education in terms of academic performance is more apparent in high school because this is the level wherein higher authorities recognize the performance of the students by engaging in interschool competitions. Since the star students represent their school, the school will therefore “take care” of these students.
Long ago, I thought the crises of education both in the urban and rural areas were merely sensationalized by media. This came to a halt when I had my firsthand experience in a public school in the city; and a direct understanding of the culture in the provinces. When I stayed in the Cordilleras for almost a year, I became aware of the indigenous cultural communities and the thin line that separates cultural preservation and economic development. For one, some communities see the continuum of oral tradition and weaving as the standard education. With this, I came to question myself if it would be possible to preserve the culture of indigenous peoples and at the same time giving them access to formal education. Sure, the government has “promised” them educational provisions and alternative learning programs that integrate their culture with education as stated in R.A. 8371, more commonly known as the IPRA 1997, which declares in Section 28 that the State shall, through the NCIP, provide a complete, adequate and integrated system of education, relevant to the needs of the children and young people of ICCs/IPs and in Section 30 that the State shall provide equal access to various cultural opportunities to the ICCs/IPs through the educational system, public or private cultural entities, scholarships, grants and other incentives. But where is the proof of its implementation in action? Be that as it may, one thing is for sure, an individual should not be deprived of the kind of education he or she is asking for.
There is no denying that selective education has become a norm in society; as most people believe that quality education is only for those who either is a genius or can actually afford it. Kaya kapag mahirap ka at hindi ka matalino, pasensya ka. But why do we have to pay for education in the first place? And so what if you’re not an UPCAT qualifier? It is your right to have access to the quality education of your choice whether formal or alternative.
Education is not just the responsibility of the administration. It is ours too by dutifully fulfilling our roles in society; may it be as a parent, a teacher and a student among others. Eradicating selectivity can only be achieved if all Filipinos help hand in hand in filling the gaps and erasing the anomalies of education. It may be hard and tedious; but as long as we have time, perseverance and guidance from God, we have everything.
May this serve as a challenge and an inspiration for change and excellent progress to serve our beloved country and fellowmen.
