Friday, May 02, 2008 Editorials: Two sides of the education coin
TWO events in the last couple of days drew focus to the country’s efforts to achieve a greater measure of excellence in education.
One was the signing into law of the new charter of the University of the Philippines (UP), which will celebrate its first centenary in July.
The other focuses concern on a debilitating activity in the national capital that tended to besmirch the image of our graduates and bring down the quality of our educational system.
It was about the “manufacture” of fake school diplomas and other education documents.
What these events brought forth to public attention are opposite sides of our educational setup.
The first one shows our collective desire to give our youth the best possible means of getting the highest quality of learning attainable.
The other one shows the dark side of our educational system, which is tied to the social and economic circumstances of our people.
With many of our young unable to acquire higher education either because of poverty or inadequate learning, and pressured by the need to have a permanent source of livelihood, some of them are forced to seek remedy through devious and immoral means.
Crackdown
There was the report about the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) joining forces with the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police “in a coordinated crackdown on fake diploma syndicates.”
Most of the “manufacturers of fake documents are based at the so-called ‘Recto University,’ a cluster of establishments along C.M. Recto Ave. and the street of Quiapo.
Ched said it could not contain the activities of syndicates alone for lack of personnel.
A Ched national official has “emphasized that fake diploma mills, can be put out of business only if the authorities will do an honest-to-goodness campaign and prosecute those who are behind the illegal activity.”
Toward this end, the government has budgeted P30 million to improve its overall information system.
Economic reasons
What seems disturbing, though, is the fact that those who avail of this desperate measures to obtain credentials for employment and secure a permanent source of livelihood will continue to do so for as long as our economic circumstances remain to be against them.
Stringent competition for jobs will drive the lesser educated but potentially brilliant youth to seek alternatives.
