Thursday, March 08, 2007 Oledan: Stop gap measures By Radzini Oledan Slice of life
WHO among our national candidates would carry the cause of education in Mindanao as a platform of government and a central issue in their advocacy?
For one, the continuing armed conflict has affected large areas and population pockets in Mindanao, particularly Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, Central Mindanao and Western Mindanao, and shows that the debilitating conflicts had caused disruptions in the delivery of basic services.
Not a few schools have totally ceased operations due to the critical situation and lack of teachers who are willing to posted in conflict-prone areas.
School activities are also frequently disrupted by the conflict, as it had to be use as temporary shelter of residents. Mass evacuations and displacements have also made it difficult for children to sustain attendance in school.
Studies have shown that the long-drawn conflict in Mindanao has been a major factor that accounts for the low school attendance and high drop-out rates.
The richest 10 provinces had a literacy rate of 88.3 percent while the poorest 10 provinces managed only 72.2 percent rate.
Similarly, the richest provinces had more access to basic education with the top 10 provinces having a participation rate of .99 at the primary level and .72 at the secondary level. A survey of households indicates that children from the poorest 20 percent households had to travel nearly twice the time to reach the nearest day care center, elementary and high school compared to the richest 20 percent.
The disparities are clear and the social implications are high. For instance, elementary cohort survival ratio was recorded at 85 percent for the richest 10 provinces while the poorest 10 had only 49 percent survival rate.
That means that the poor are the ones that dropped out of school, and thereby, deprived of the benefits of free secondary and higher education.
Among Mindanao provinces, the areas of Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu have the lowest literacy rate with just about half of the adult population literate.
High school participation rate is only 15% for the province of Sulu, the lowest rate among the country's 77 provinces.
This means that only 15 percent of children 13-17 years old are attending secondary education. The corresponding figures for Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao are 20 percent and 26 percent, respectively.
Aside from these indicators, questions have been raised about the relevance of education especially for Muslim and IP communities in the region. Even a cursory examination of school textbooks, curriculum and teaching approaches indicate a lot of bias in learning modules that is used throughout the country without considering the local situation and circumstances.
The formal school system in many areas of Mindanao lacks flexibility to adjust to emergency situation and local differences.
The consistently low budget for non formal education (NFE) is reflective of the continuing neglect of and misconception about it.
The dominant thinking among policymakers and educators is that education can only be provided in formal education courses. Thus, NFE is viewed as an inferior mode of learning and regarded only as a stop-gap measure.
There is no doubt that there is an urgent need to realign the education budget to provide more resources for Mindanao, particularly for the poorest provinces with a clear bias in favor of armed conflict area, Muslim and IP communities and the poorest population groups.
The Mindanawan's call may be falling on deaf ears.
