K12 Education

The famous former American President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education he may steal the whole railroad.” Education is a vital tool in everyone’s lives. Without it yes, man can do something but with education, man can do so much MORE. An uneducated man’s potential measure ups to a freight car. It is just a part of a whole; it is limited. On the other hand, the railroad is an educated man’s abilities. One has knowledge and competency and this lays out a wide range of possibilities for this person. Education is a basic human need, an integral part of quality of life, a support for moral and social values, and an instrument for economic productivity. (American Development Bank 15-16)

Education plays a big role in the country’s economy. It is a key factor in the employment and unemployment rate thereby affecting the poverty rate as well. At present, the drop out rate is high since a lot of families are financially incapable of sending and letting their child finish school and its rate continues to increase every year in elementary and secondary levels. Surprisingly, the literacy rate is quite high in the Philippines and yet many people still cannot acquire jobs.

Fifty-eight million of the estimated 67 million Filipinos aged 10 to 64 years old are functionally literate, according to the results of the 2008 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS). In this survey, a functionally literate person is one who can read, write and compute or one who can read, write, compute and comprehend. Persons who completed high school or a higher level of education are also considered functionally literate. Drop out rate was 4.3% in elementary level 8.1% in secondary level in SY 2009-2010. Unemployment rate refers to the unemployed persons include all those who, during the reference period are 15 years old and over as of their last birthday who have no...