Monday, February 19, 2007 Oledan: Disparities By Radzini Oledan Slice of Life
THE widening disparity in performance across regions and population groups indicate that equity in education remains a serious concern. Perhaps, the worst part is that the quality of education and its output have deteriorated to such an alarming level that performance of children in Mindanao ranks poorest compared to other parts of the country.
While we can consider the rapid expansion of school buildings, the system apparently proceeded without ensuring the minimum requirements for delivering quality education.
Efficiency and quality have been unduly sacrificed if only to fulfill the constitutional mandate of free and universal education at the primary and secondary levels.
The extensive school system has not been able to accommodate everyone to enroll and complete basic education. Less than 50 percent of children are able to attend preschool, thus depriving many of early childhood education.
Of every 100 students who enroll in grade 1, only 67 reach grade 6 and 48 eventually reach 4th year high school.
This indicates a high fall-out rate, with a significant percentage of students dropping out between grades 2 and 4 even before functional literacy is achieved. Studies revealed that those who dropped out or never attended school came from poor families whose parents have had little or no schooling.
Deped noted that the weak holding power of the school as indicated by the decline in elementary cohort survival rate from 68.7 percent in 1989 to 67.4 percent in 1997. The poor efficiency rating of the school system is further evidenced by the high and increasing dropout and repetition rates.
The report noted that elementary dropout rate increased from 7.15 percent in 1991 to 7.7 percent in 1997 while mean repetition rate rose from 2.08 percent to 2.8 percent over the same period.
The dismal performance of the education sector is made worst by the large disparity in access to and quality of educational services across regions and across population groups.
Generally, the poorest areas and the poorest income groups have the least access to the country's public school system, thus, perpetuating even more the cycle of poverty and social inequity.
By geographical division, Mindanao has the least access to education and the lowest quality performance. Within Mindanao, the poorest regions, like Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Armm) and Western Mindanao stand out as the areas that consistently scored lowest in most education-related indicators.
For instance, elementary dropout rate for the Armm is about 25 percent. This is the highest among all the regions and is over three times the national average of a little over 7 percent.
It is not surprising to note, therefore, that the survival rate at elementary level for Armm is just 30 percent. That means that of 100 students that get enrolled in grade one, only 30 will eventually reach grade six within the prescribed period.
For the significant segment of the population, education is the most important variable influencing earning capacity. Yet children of poor families receive little education and, thus, deprived of the very means to improve their livelihood.
Poverty is replicated from generation to generation.
