Half of Filipino children are missing out education

More than half of Filipino children are part of the government's deficit in its commitment for Education for All, says the Alliance of Concerned Teachers which is simultaneously mobilizing the Global Action Week in the Philippines this April 19 to 25, 2004 in support to the Global Campaign for Education.

The Global Campaign for Education is a coalition of NGOs, civil society organizations and teachers' unions dedicated to fulfill the 2015 Education for All (EFA) goal of pressuring governments to provide more funds and stronger leadership to get all children, everywhere, into school.

They will present a report card on the government's performance on its EFA commitment during the Ciudad Fernandina press conference on April 14, Wednesday, 8:30 am to 10 am.

"Fifty percent (50%) of our children are considered EFA deficit," laments Flora Arellano, ACT National Chairperson, citing recent DepEd figures that one in three children have not reached Grade 5, half have not reached fourth year high school, and that only 50% of Filipino children have passed in diagnostic examinations, meaning they only learn only half of what they are supposed to learn.

ACT figures also reveal that around 50% of children, mostly in remote, rural and poor areas, in indigenous people's communities, conflict zones and urban poor communities, are missing out schooling.

Lack of national budget, teacher's shortage, crowded classrooms, high costs of textbooks are perennially cited reasons for the lack of access and quality of education in the country.

Child laborers are also particularly vulnerable because their work usually interferes with schooling, leading to absenteeism, tardiness and low grades. One in three working children has stopped schooling or dropped out of school, according the 2001 NSO Survey on Children 5-17 years old.

Organizers have vowed to launch the biggest national lobby by mobilizing more than 4,000 children and supporters to a symbolic march from the COA Building towards the Batasan Complex on Tuesday, April 20, 7.30 am to talk to parliamentarians and let them express their concerns on education in their own words.

Though they are not part of the GCE, many international agencies and governments around the world support the Week of Action including UNESCO, ILO and UNICEF.

They will also support the presentation of Draft Philippine EFA 2015 at the Department of Education Central Office on Monday, April 15, from 9am to 12 noon.

Last year, 1.8 million people in the globe participated in the world's largest teach-in about girl's education, also called the "World's Largest Lesson."

The group is calling on the government to:

• Dedicate at least 3% of GDP to basic education
• Abolish all fees and charges in schools
• End the worst forms of child labor
• Find flexible ways to provide learning opportunities for hard-to-reach groups, such as working children and illiterate youth, and
• Set concrete targets for improving quality and learning achievement