Yes, you read it right! How unfortunate it is!
Amidst the political instability and social turmoil, which include the perennial problems of poverty and corruption in our country, the Philippines, one cannot help but cry knowing that our Filipino Youth (Kabataang Pilipino) of today are losing their grip as the main core in our nation-building. Without a higher moral compass, intelligence, and reason of our Kabataang Pilipino, our country is doomed to fail. This is the painful truth we all need to accept. And may we all have the courage to accept this truth and the powerful will to redeem ourselves as a dignified country.
We can only redeem ourselves if we have true education. We can only be free if we are enlightened.
There are 18.9 million high school graduates who are considered “functionally illiterate”, or those who have problems in comprehension and understanding. This was revealed during the Senate Basic Education Committee hearing on the results of the 2024 functional literacy, education, and mass media survey. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, National Assistant National Statistician Adrian Cerezo that there are a significant number who are passing or graduating but are not functionally literate.
Systemic Issues in Philippine Education
How did this happen?
This is so alarming! We are in a critical existential crisis where we are now in doubt whether there is a light at the end of the tunnel!
How can we hope for a better future for our country if we have more than 18 million graduates who don’t understand what they read? How can they see the light when they are blinded by ignorance? How can our Kabataang Pilipino be the hope of our motherland, as noted by our national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal, if they cannot even understand what they read?!
This is a complicated problem that requires urgent attention. The main problem is our educational system and the lack of vision and consistency of our leaders. Our educators, policymakers, and leaders in the centralised Department of Education need to do an overhaul on how we do what we do as teachers. Most importantly, to find the answer to why we do what we do.
The saddest truth: We have lost common sense in our education.
Teachers’ Struggles Behind the Scenes
One of the major sentiments I received from my fellow teachers in the Philippines, some were my previous students, is the unnecessary, redundant clerical paperwork, which consumes a lot of their time. Consequently, this gives more stress to our teachers, and this compromises the delivery and quality of our education. This needs to be stopped!
Another ill practice is the dilemma of our teachers in passing the students, even though the students are not eligible to pass. Administratively, teachers have no choice but to pass all the students, as a student with failing grades can be perceived as the fault of the teachers and the school principals. Every student who fails affects the promotion of the teachers. So, do you think a teacher will not pass their student?
Likewise, this Filipino mentality of “kawawa naman siya” (to be compassionate) adds more burden to the quality of our education. So, as an act of charity, we think we are helping our students by passing them “para hindi na mag-aral ulit ng isang taon at maging kahiya-hiya sa kanya” (so that the student will no longer need to study another year, as this could be humiliating for him).
The Role of Discipline in Learning
I would also like to note that this generation lacks discipline. Teachers are no longer allowed to impose physical or humiliating punishment on students. Students have more rights nowadays. I know this is subject to debate, but as we spoil our students to freely do “what they want to do,” it has compromised the quality of education. Perhaps, this concept of discipline needs further studies, but one thing is for sure: one can only truly learn when there is discipline.
Outdated Facilities and Lack of Resources
But more importantly, for decades, we have seen the decline of our public education, compared to other Asian countries and first-world countries, just by looking at our classrooms, school facilities, technology, and the ratio between teachers and students. Students from other countries have their own iPads and laptops provided by the government.
Likewise, how can we inspire our Kabataang Pilipino to read when the value and existence of school and public libraries are not part of our human consciousness as Filipinos? It’s so sad to know that there are schools that do not have their own libraries. Here in Australia, we can see that many of the suburbs have their own public libraries. However, in the Philippines, very few cities and municipalities have their own libraries.
Sadly, as Filipinos, we don’t have a concept of a “visit to the library.”
A city without a library is a city without a soul!
A Call for Consistency and Reform
The painful truth: the quality of our public education has been compromised due to politics and corruption.
If only our leaders were not corrupt, we would probably already have massive libraries and classrooms decades ago.
We can only hope that our Secretary of the Department of Education will be able to really solve our educational crisis once and for all. I know this is a challenge because whenever we have new leaders, we expect the new leader to implement their “new” project, wanting to leave a mark, their own legacy. This creates more problems for our teachers! Change after change after change. What we need is a consistent treatment to cure the disease!
What We Can Do: Reignite the Love for Reading
Finally, we need everyone to do their part! The parents should start to read as well. How can we inspire our Kabataan to read when we ourselves, the elders, parents, and mentors, do not read? We should encourage our relatives, our nephews and nieces, to read. But yes, first, we all need to learn how to love reading.
Sadly, our country is a country of people who do not read. I hope we still have time to redeem ourselves. Ironically, this modern period has given us an overflowing information on the internet, yet our young generation has lost this opportunity to become more knowledgeable. Or if they become more knowledgeable, only a few are wise.
True freedom and happiness can only be found in education. Our victory against the shadow of darkness and fear can only be won through enlightenment. We need the Filipinos, the Filipino Youth, to be knowledgeable and wise, so that we can find our Filipino Soul, a soul that is beautiful, dignified, proud yet humble, magnanimous, honest, incorruptible, and prodigious.
We have lost our sense of Who We Are as Filipinos. May we have the courage to find it again.
Read, read, read. Comprehend, comprehend, comprehend.
“Without education and liberty, which are the soil and the sun of man, no reform is possible, no measure can give the result desired.”
— Dr. Jose P. Rizal, excerpt from “On the Indolence of the Filipinos,” La Solidaridad
Rado Gatchalian is a professional licensed secondary school teacher in the Philippines, majoring in Values Education. He taught at the University of Luzon, Dagupan City, and Urdaneta City University, Pangasinan. He used to teach and train students who were studying to be teachers and now are successful teachers and school principals.
