Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.

Aristotle

Out-of-School Children and Youth in the

Philippines (Results from the 2013 Functional
Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey)
Reference Number:
2015-029

Release Date:
Monday, April 20, 2015

Out-of-School Children and Youth Prevalence in the Philippines

The 2013 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) covered around 36 million
population aged 6 to 24 years. According to the survey, one in every ten or about 4 million Filipino children
and youth was out-of-school in 2013. Out-of-school children is defined in the FLEMMS as persons aged 6
to 14 years who are not attending school while out-of-school youth as persons aged 15 to 24 years who are
not attending school, have not finished any college or post secondary course, and are not working.
Out-of-school children and youth in ARMM comprised 14.4 percent, which is the highest across regions. Six
regions have proportion of out-of-school children and youth higher than the national figure at 10.6 percent,
namely, SOCCSKSARGEN, Davao, Central Luzon, Zamboanga Peninsula, Caraga and MIMAROPA
(ranging from 11.2 to 12.3 percent). Meanwhile, the proportion of out-of-school children and youth was
lowest in CAR at 7.1 percent.
In general, the proportion of persons who are out-of-school was higher among the youth than among
children. Excluding CAR, the proportion of out-of-school youth across regions ranged from 14.5 percent to
20.4 percent. For children, the figure ranged from 1.7 percent to 4.9 percent, except ARMM with 10.9
percent. In terms of gender, the proportion of out-of-school children and youth was higher among females
than males in all regions (Table 1).

Top Reasons for Not Attending School

The 2013 FLEMMS results also showed that of the nearly 4 million out-of-school children and youth, 22.9
percent have entered into union or marriage. Another 19.2 percent cited insufficient family income to send
child to school as the reason for not attending school (this refers to all educational expenses other than
tuition fee), while 19.1 percent lack the interest in attending school.
Among females, 4 out of every 10 have already entered marriage while 3 in every 10 males have no interest
in attending school. The proportion of out-of-school children and youth whose family income was not
sufficient to send child to school was 22.7 percent and 17.0 percent, among males and females, respectively
(Figure 1).

1 of every 8 Filipino youths not in schoolsurvey

By: Riza T. Olchondra / @inquirerdotnet

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 02:12 AM November 06, 2011
One out of eight Filipinos aged between six and 24 is an out-of-school youth (OSY), according to the 2010
Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) of the National Statistics Office (NSO).
This translates to about 16 percent of the estimated 39 million Filipinos in that age bracket, or 6.24 million
people, the NSO said in a report released last week.
It said that among the main reasons cited by both males and females for not attending school were lack of
personal interest, high cost of education, and looking for work.
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OSY defined
According to the office, the term OSY refers to family members six to 17 years old who are not attending a
formal school as well as family members 18 to 24 years old who are currently out of school, not gainfully
employed and had not finished college or a post-secondary course.
Among OSYs who are six to 12 years old, lack of personal interest and too young to go to school are two
leading reasons, for both males and females, NSO administrator Carmelita N. Ericta said in the report.
Lack of personal interest was also the commonly cited reason for OSYs 13 to 17 years of age, followed by
the high cost of education, according to Ericta. For OSYs aged 18 to 24 years, looking for work was cited as
the main reason among males, and marriage among females, she added.
The state-owned think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) said that Filipino families
and the Philippine government put a high premium on education, but school participation still remained
wanting precisely because of the reasons cited in the NSO study.
The PIDS said that addressing the lack of interest was particularly important because it could be a catchall phrase for anything, from adjustments due to late school entry to lack of financial or parental support.
Besides improving the quality of education and the accessibility of schools, PIDS suggested that the
government improve information campaigns on what age children should start going to school and promote
continuing education for mothers so that they would support school attendance among their children.
Major factor
Lack of parental support for education was found to be a major factor in childrens lack of interest in
going to school.
In addressing the economic blocks to school participation, PIDS said, the governments conditional cash
transfer program might help families that decide to put their children to work rather than complete their
education.
The Annual Poverty Indicators poll is a nationwide survey conducted during the years when the Family
Income and Expenditures Survey is not carried out. For a full survey, the number of samples is around
50,000 households. In the 2010 APIS round, only half of the sample size was used.
Of the 21,023 eligible sample households for the 2010 APIS round, 20,103 were interviewed. This translated
to a response rate of 95.6 percent at the national level.

Fighting for the educated Filipino

By: Butch Hernandez / @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 02:11 AM March 12, 2016
In May 2009, Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) convened the countrys leading education reform
advocates, including the Eggie Apostol Foundation, to propel a growing movement to make quality
education a priority agenda of whoever was to be elected president in the next year. After his inauguration in
2010, President Aquino heeded the groundswell by earnestly pursuing the 10-Point Basic Education Agenda,
a package of groundbreaking reform initiatives that included the passage of Republic Act No. 10533, also
known as the K-to-12 Law.
PBEds Ramon del Rosario named that movement Education Nation, and its goal was to bring together
the largest ever constituency for Education Reform including teachers, parents, students, civil society
organizations, business groups, local governments, donors and other education stakeholders to demand
and help attain quality education for all.
Today, with the national elections just two months away, the serious contenders for the presidency have been
more concerned with pursuing strategies and tactics that would win them the most votes rather than actually
showing us why they deserve our mandate.
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The best way for them to let us know what they really stand for is to expand on Unesco Director General
Irina Bokovas assertion: Education is the most transformative force there is in any society. This universal
agenda testifies to the recognition that education lies at the heart of achieving sustainability, with impact
across the development spectrum.
Education is a global public good and quality is vital for the new agenda: We are not talking about any kind
of education, but about quality education, about learning. National resource mobilization and aid are
important, but the effectiveness of investment is equally important.
Education Nation will reconvene this month with a decidedly more urgent mission: to fight for the Filipino
peoples right to quality education from the local to the national levels.
The salient points of Education Nation 2016s change theory call on the new president as well as Congress
to craft a legislative agenda toward inclusive and equitable quality education, lifelong human flourishing,
and sustainable development, to be fully realized by 2050.
Recognizing that good governance is imperative to national development, Education Nation 2016 pushes for
the passage of the freedom of information bill and a congressional review of legislation on the trifocal
education system, the National Coordinating Council for Education, and the institutional mandate of the
Professional Regulation Commission.
It envisions learning institutions encouraging broadened community participation in policy development and
decision-making.
Education Nation 2016 also reimagines a formal education system where the new president shall continue
the trend of increasing investment in education to meet international standards and national goals.
A key reform thrust of such investments shall be toward training nonteaching personnel, ensuring quality
delivery of support services to students, and further development of a research culture across the educational
system.

Education Nation 2016 outlines a very progressive course of action that includes revitalizing alternative
learning systems through evidence-based policies and practices that rigorously study the extent and
distribution of the out-of-school youth phenomenon.
According to PBEd president Chito Salazar, we must respond to the challenges of todays rapidly changing
world and we have to continue finding new and better ways to work together.
In this light, Education Nation 2016 enjoins the winning presidential candidate to push for the creation of a
Department of Information Communications Technology, for adequate access to the Internet on a national
scale via public-private partnerships (PPPs), for the development of learning institutions in locations
relatively safe from the impact of natural disasters, and the provision of adequate space to allow these
institutions to perform ad hoc functions such as during calamities and elections.
PBEd strongly recommends that the government expand PPPs toward social services and encourages
Congress to institutionalize collaborative linkages by designating the National Industry-Academe Advisory
Council as the driving entity for the creation and oversight of sectoral skills councils.
Decade upon decade of global evidence shows beyond all doubt that high-performing education systems
with clear learning goals at every stage of the continuum are a key characteristic of a stable society
regardless of a countrys prevailing system of government.
As Eggie Apostol herself remarked in 2009: It is true that we should seek reform at all levels, especially in
the larger political context. But the scenario is by no means linear. As education stakeholders and members
of our respective communitiesor, more accurately, education revolutionariesour collective experience
shows that meaningful education reform happens from the ground up, and is always dynamic.
Education reform is the rallying cry that will bind our communities together. However, the Eggie Apostol
Foundation maintains that our efforts should be characterized by a continuing dedication to learning and
focus less on trying to influence the outcome of the coming political exercise.
We do need an education presidentone who truly understands the nature of education reformbut any
president-elect can shape himself to be one. All he needs to see is that his mandate comes from an Education
Nation.
This was true back then, and it still is true today. Dear presidentiables, your thoughts, if you please.
Butch Hernandez (butchhernandez@gmail.com) is the executive director of the Eggie Apostol Foundation.
his article was written for ShareAmerica by Judith Heumann, the U.S. Department of States special adviser for
international disability rights.

Growing up in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, I wasnt allowed to go to school until fourth grade
because I used a wheelchair and was unable to walk.
But my parents were adamant that I get an education equal to my brothers so I could support myself if I
never married (women were not typically breadwinners back then). They teamed up with other parents to
force some of the local secondary schools to become accessible to students with disabilities.
Later, I battled successfully to be the first person in a wheelchair to teach in New York and taught there for
three years.
Education is a great equalizer: It opens opportunities for girls and boys, for disadvantaged people and
especially for people, like me, who have disabilities.

Hamza Jaka and Amber Buckley-Shaklee, two students with disabilities, worked as interns at the U.S.
Department of State. Their stories indicate that inclusive education is moving forward.
Both Hamza and Amber have always attended integrated schools, as required under laws that didnt exist
when I was in school. Hamza, who graduated from the University of California Berkeley in 2014, was
resented by peers who thought the accommodations he received (such as having a computer for spelling
tests) were unfair. And Amber, a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, had
friends at nearby schools who were told they could come to school, but only if they didnt bring their
wheelchairs.
Parents and students need to know their rights. In the United States there are Parent Information Centers that
help. Also, after years of implementation of our laws, more students with disabilities are graduating from
secondary school and entering work or higher education.
We have come a long way since I had polio in 1949, and we have far to go. Our laws are not always
enforced as they should be. As I work for equality and the advancement of human rights, I want to teach this
lesson: People with disabilities should have the same rights and opportunities as all people. Granted these,
we can and do improve our communities, our country and the world.

This piece is one of three articles on tackling global education, with a special focus on Africa, and is
published in partnership with the Financial Times This is Africa magazine. View the full series here.
When I went to school there were very few classroom desks. Most of us sat on benches and when the
teacher asked us to write; we knelt down on the floor and used the benches we had been sitting on as our
desks.
Later, when I was a teacher myself, most of my students had to endure the same demeaning process, as yet
another generation went without the most basic of infrastructure. How is it, that in the 70 years since I was a
school boy, so little has changed?
An estimated 95 million children in sub-Saharan Africa attend school without the benefit of a classroom
desk. In emerging markets, communities and villages, children continue to experience oppression by not
having the opportunity of receiving a quality basic education. and support. These conditions bear witness to
the persistent imposition of oppression. What message are we sending our children? That they are not
worthy of a basic & simple infrastructure. That they cannot be allowed the freedom to dream of a better way

of learning, and a better way of life? Surely, we cannot accept that that is so! Enough is enough! It is time
for decisive leadership and immediate action.
James D. Wolfensohn, former President of The World Bank said that the only effective means of breaking
the cycle of poverty is through education I agree with him wholeheartedly.
By not acting with immediate, innovative solutions in basic education, we are not offering our children
anything different from what I experienced as a child decades ago, we are merely entrenching poverty and
this is why The Tutudesk Campaign is so important.
Tutudesk was started against all odds, by a dedicated group of young South Africans who recognised that
education is a basic human right and that all children deserved an equal education foundation. This
Campaign represents a form of positive activism, proof that critical thinking, innovation and simple
solutions can provide immediate results to our most pressing social challenges.
This positive activism has become a movement, with more than a million children assisted thus far. Tutudesk
is important to me for the same reasons it should be important to you, because for too long now I have
witnessed the outcomes of education without such solutions. The quality of education offered today, instead
of building confidence, literacy and dignity, often adds little value and holds children back. We are capable
of doing so much more! We must no longer accept a childs educational experience being prejudiced by the
lack of a most basic piece of educational infrastructure a classroom desk so critical to their literacy
development and academic performance.
As an African innovation in answer to a challenge that affects African children disproportionately, Tutudesk
is so much more than mere infrastructure; it offers children a sense of dignity and a message to say: this is
an investment in you. We recognise your potential. Use it, because you are somebody!
All children everywhere deserve a quality education which is one of their fundamental human rights. The
ability to read and write; laying a foundation for a future without poverty , hunger or disease. Our future and
the success of future generations depend on this. I am witness to how a Tutudesk in the hands of a child, is a
significant step towards this future
Are these challenges insurmountable? No. To most people, one child is a drop in the ocean when we know
there are still millions in need. I do not see it that way. I see one child as important as all the others, and
when each child is treated as an individual, and recognised that he or she counts in the world, and then these
drops become a river, a lake, an ocean.
If we each do our little bit of good where we are; those little bits of good put together overwhelm the world
as each of us is indeed made for goodness, and our children for greatness!