The educational system of the Philippines was patterned both from the educational systems of Spain and the United States, but it changed radically after the liberation of the Philippines in 1946. In the Philippines, education gives greater opportunities to the youth, wherein a college diploma is the measure of one's worth in life, they are given a chance to get or find a decent job. However, the country's educational system has been facing many problems. These problems are due to the population explosion and globalization that is why not every youth in the Philippines can afford to go to schools. Another thing is the gap existing between the private and the public school systems. Not all students get enough education for different reasons. The education in the public schools is much weaker than the one in private schools. And the effect of not getting enough education makes the future of the Philippines even worse.
The Philippines ranks a poor seventh among nine Southeast Asian nations in the area of education and innovation. The results of the 2010-2011 Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, which showed that the Philippines only fared better than Cambodia, among the eight Southeast Asian countries that were surveyed in the fields of education, Science and Technology and Innovation. In the area of primary education, the Philippines ranked 99th out of 138 economies. The Philippines ranked 69th in educational system, 112th in Science and Mathematics and 76th on Internet access. In all categories, the Philippines is falling behind Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. ("ABS-CBN News")
The quality of education, affordability of education, government budget for education and education mismatch are some important issues that are needed to be looked closely and be resolved. There is a decline in the quality of the Philippine education, especially at the elementary and secondary levels. This explains why students get way below the target mean score of standard tests conducted among elementary and high school students. Also, in affordability, there is a big disparity in educational achievements across social groups. The socioeconomically disadvantaged students have higher dropout rates while most of the freshmen students at the tertiary level come from relatively well-off families. The government's budget for education also affects in the development of the education in the Philippines. Philippines is one of the lowest budget allocations in education among the ASEAN countries. While mismatch is the major problem at the tertiary level, it is also the cause of the large group of educated unemployed or underemployed Filipinos. There is a large proportion of mismatch between training and actual jobs.
This problem caught the attention of Mr. Ronald Shane Flynn, the founder of Jesus and God and Mary Foundation or also known as JAGAM Foundation. He believes that everyone deserves a better life. He knew that in the Philippines, a college diploma is the measure of one's worth in life. He created the JAGAM Foundation to help the less privileged people from different communities in realizing better lives. JAGAM Foundation focuses in giving educational assistance to students who dream big but don't have enough resources to go to school. As what the proverb tells: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
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