"Education is an important element in the struggle to help our children and people rediscover their identity and thereby increase self-respect. Education is our passport to the future."
Dr. Malcolm X
Education is an equalizer that surely opens doors to success in life. The better educated you are, the more likely you are to succeed.
The purpose of education is to prepare our children for higher education. Education produces a generation of individuals who can make greater contributions to society. Unfortunately, education does not start at school. It starts at home. Parents should consider it their responsibility to educate their children as early as possible. Imagine what our country would be like if we were all taught good morals, love, peace, and respect.
However, "In the last nine years, around 1.4 million children have become out of school youth," a lawmaker said. The National Statistics Office reported that 28.9 percent of out-of-school youth did not attend school. They did not finish their studies due to the expensive cost of education. Moreover, 27.5 percent dropped out of school for lack of interest. It was published on August 25, 2012 by the Manila Times.
In an effort to attain success, the government of the Philippines must invest time and money in education. Its main role is to subsidize the programs required to be done in order to provide free education. In connection with this, the government has implemented R.A. 10931. It provides students of SUCs, LCUs, and state-run TVIs with free tuition.
According to Prospero de Vera III, Filipino students will benefit from free tuition from 2018 to 2019. A total of P40 billion has been allotted for the initial year of implementation of R.A. No. 10931.
The said law includes the tuition and miscellaneous fees of students enrolled in programs registered under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). All technical-vocational education and training (TVET), local universities and colleges (LUCs), and state universities and colleges (SUCs).
Unfortunately, President Duterte’s officials disagreed with his decision and tried to veto the said bill. In addition, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) sees the measure as counterproductive. Then, the Foundation for Economic Freedom put out a paper supporting a veto in the same way.
Based on the reactions of prominent organizations and personalities regarding the said law, they see something objectionable about the idea of having free education. The main concern is the idea that what is popular tends to be right. Everybody pays for anything that appears to be "free." In other words, we can’t have something for free. Similarly, there is no such thing as a free education.
Education is an equalizer that opens different opportunities to everyone. It starts from early childhood education to tertiary education. True enough, education is a part and parcel of someone’s success.
Based on studies, those who graduate from college are most likely to succeed. That is why those who don’t even finish their elementary education fall under the umbrella of poverty and misery. Thus, poor education or no education at all among Filipinos will lead to greater poverty.
According to studies, 12 percent of those who can’t afford expensive education are in SUCs. The remaining percent of those who don’t have the capacity to attain a college education failed to enter a tertiary level. The bill, which is now a law, is meant to get rid of the widespread worry about poverty, which keeps poor Filipinos from acting at a higher level.
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