by Santosh Digal

The rising cost of living is forcing many families to keep their children out of school because they cannot afford its costs. The government is trying to help them with food subsidies but cannot pay for books or transportation. The diocesan Caritas is helping thousands of students.

Manila (AsiaNews) – One Filipino school kid in six is not going to school and the number is rising. The percentage of children enrolled in primary school was down to 83 per cent in the 2006-2007 school year, from 90 per cent five years earlier, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) reported in a study. The figure is even worse for secondary education at 59 per cent

“The number of six-year-old children who are not in Grade 1 has reached 1.207 million, and we have 3.8 million school-aged children who likely have not attended school,” Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said.

The 2003 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey conducted by the National Statistics Office every five years found that 11.6 million Filipinos aged 10-24 did not attend school.

The rise in the number of children dropping out of school was the result of the rising prices of goods and services, especially food and energy.

For the NSCB the proportion of Filipino children who did not have access to primary education dropped to 16.8 per cent of the school-age population in the school year ending 2007 from 15.6 per cent the previous year, even worse compared with the 9.7 per cent recorded in school year ending 2003.

Although the poor are exempt from school fees they cannot afford transportation costs, canteen fees, uniforms and boos.

For this reason Filipino President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered schools not to require their students to wear uniforms to reduce costs for families.

In addition some government agencies have been providing students with a one-kilogram bag of rice every week. In some selected schools students are fed for 120 school days with biscuits, fortified noodles, and milk. But the authorities are unable to pay for books, transport and clothing.

Through the local Caritas the archdiocese of Manila is involved in raising about 55 million pesos to help the poor. This initiative will also mark the organisation’s 55th year in the country.

Caritas gives scholarships to poor but deserving students, whose family monthly income is under a thousand pesos per month. Currently, there are 6,000 students enrolled in the programme at the elementary, high school, college and vocational levels, a number which Caritas expects to increase to 8,000 this year.

In addition to 10,000 pesos a year for transportation costs and other fees, students also get vocational training and moral education.

According to Caritas the idea is to encourage solidarity among people. Through the help of parishes, 55-member circles are created, each contributing about a thousand pesos. With about a thousand circles, about 55 million can thus be raised.

 

 

• philippines
• manila
• children
• school
• dropout
• rate
• archdiocese
• caritas
• help
• 55
• gloria
• macapagal-arroyo
• national
• statistical
• coordination
• board
• nscb
• jesli
• lapus