Guro

It is not often that one finds a Filipino blog about education so when they do, I usually read it right away. One such blog entry is from a Twitter friend of mine, tessadeleon, titled “For us, the race is (not) on“. In her blog, she says

Sometimes I wonder how it’s like to study in a global university, where facilities are the most modern, faculty is top notch, and the environment is most conducive to learning.

Having studied overseas, I’d say that, at least in UP Diliman (and I am not saying this because I teach in UP Diliman), some faculty members can provide the same level of education that some faculty members in universities overseas provide. These same Filipino faculty members studied under the same professors overseas. Whilst they are not necessarily better than their mentors but, perhaps someday, they can achieve the same level of expertise. 

The environment for learning is the same. In UP, you may opt to go to the Sunken Garden, open a book and study – the same way that my classmates in the UK did during spring and summer terms. You can go to the library, too, if you wish. And if you’ve gone to one library, almost all other libraries look, feel and even smell the same. (and yes, you still see the old librarians manning the desks but not in UP Engg Lib II, of course hehe)

The difference lies mostly in the facilities and support, both from the government and industry. It is only now that the government is starting to realize that it is important to support research in universities but it is never too late.

UNFORTUNATELY, industry support is still paltry to non-existent. How many companies can you name that invests in education by providing a continuous flow of money for research grants? To add salt to the wound, these same companies criticize the academe for not producing competent graduates.

Higher education is one thing but basic education is more important. No matter how successful universities are in producing research papers, inventions and discoveries, if no student is qualified enough to enter the university, the efforts go to naught. In my short stint in education, the quality of the students getting admitted, even in UP, is declining. I apologize to my current students but majority of you are not up to par with my students 6-7 years ago and if the trend continues, the next batch will be worse!

The state of education in the country is akin to the sick man of Asia scenario. No amount of medication can cure it. What is needed is immediate surgery! Get PRC, the agency licensing teachers, to impose something akin to the medical field’s continuing education requirement. FORCE teachers to improve their skills every two years and if they do not improve, kick them out! The kids are suffering, you know. Also, get the government to make the teaching profession attractive – if you cannot increase their salaries, exempt them from taxes! We need to make the supply far more than the demand and only then shall we see improvement in the quality of our children’s education. What do you think?