Societal conditions on curriculum development
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Dropping enrollment rates and increasing illiteracy rates will have negative economic consequences for the Philippines. Lower enrollment is reducing the skilled workforce and economic growth. It is increasing costs to the government through lower tax revenues and increased spending on prisons and welfare. Improving education outcomes is critical for the Philippines to develop a workforce that can support future high-tech jobs and attract business investment. The government needs to bring together stakeholders to create a strategic education plan to address these issues.
Societal conditions on curriculum development
- 1. SOCIETAL CONDITIONS ON CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN TERMS OF ECONOMICS Ms. April Rose M. Botardo
- 2. The latest report by the National Statistical Coordination Board, recognizing that one in six school- age-children is deprived of education, it only say what is in store in our country’s future. The enrollment rate in our primary school five years ago, was 90%. Last year, it dropped to 83%, and the number is rising. The situation is worse for secondary education, where enrollment rate has been steady at only 59% over the same period.
- 3. Unfortunately, this has been going on in decades. Past government administrations are equally guilty of negligence to check the increasing numbers of illiterate Filipinos. Illiteracy means the difficulty of a person to read and write, and even if he or she can read or write, the comprehension is low and have difficulty following simple written instructions. Education has been in the backburner and no serious effort was made to make it a major strategy for our progress. Education has a dramatic effect on economic development and growth. In fact, other countries are starting to realize how drop-out rates affect to their economies. In the Philippines, nobody knows the extent of its effect.
- 4. It appears that we lost sight of the implications of this issue, because there is no statistical data to show how much was lost in terms of peso value due to school drop-outs and illiteracy. Thus, it is not only lost opportunity to get better income, but the government also lost tax revenues from a productive and competitive population. School non-completion affects so many things. It increases criminal activity, and adds to cost of prison and welfare services. By simply following a simple linear cause and effect analysis, they have lower lifetime earnings, which reduces buying power, lowers tax revenues for governments and reduces economic growth. When you extend your analysis, it results to decreased health status, more criminal activity, higher rates of teen pregnancy and single motherhood. Wherever you look at it, just higher costs all around.
- 5. Aside from those stated, the education system has direct effect on future economic growth. A major consideration of a business to invest in a country or in a community, is the economic impact data. Part of this data is the education achievement of the community, along with items such as transportation and workforce development. With the present condition, we can’t hardly make the first cut because companies will see they don’t have a pipeline to supply them with the workforce they need. We can no longer deny that the manufacturing sector cannot sustain the rising need for employment, and high-tech jobs are coming on. It is expected that majority of the jobs created over the next 10 years will be high-tech. How can this country compete if many of our population didn’t even finish elementary school?
- 6. We are already seeing economic development pass us. The issue at hand should not only be viewed from the perspective of children dropping-out of school and the inability of their parents to find better jobs. It is about lost opportunities - lost lifetime earnings of those who were deprived of education, lost revenues for the government, and lost opportunity for this country to catch-up with our already developed neighbors. We need not fight over it now. The government should take the lead, to bring all the players to the table and define a strategic education plan. Other sectors are waiting. I am sure the business leaders are hungry to know what they can specifically do to help.