Ben Wicks' I.Can Foundation

Philippines

The Need for Education

The public education system of the Philippines is available at no cost to every citizen but is plagued by poor access, lack of resources, underpaid and under-trained teachers which has resulted in high drop out rates and poor academic proficiency.

According to recent statements (2006) by the Philippine Department of Education, 9.2 million Filipinos between the ages of 10 yrs - 64 yrs. are functionally illiterate. They are unable to read, write, subtract and add, or understand simple instructions at a Grade 4 level.

Access to Public Education

The Filipino public school system lacks books, classrooms and teachers. About 13 municipalities don't have high schools and 4,234 villages don't even have public elementary schools. Many public schools have to accommodate 60 to 120 students per classroom which makes learning and effective teacher dialogue virtually impossible.

Quality of Education

A recent government-sponsored national career assessment examination concluded that more than half of high-school students as unfit for further education. (Philippine Inquirer, June 2007).

In 2003, another Government-sponsored examination, The Trends in Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS), revealed the following low level of educational proficiency.

for Grade 6 students, only 26 % had a mastery of English, 15 % of science and 31 % of mathematics
for high school seniors, only 7 % had mastered English; only 2 % were proficient in science and only 16% were competent in mathematics
poor reading skills in English account for the dismal performance of students in mathematics and science
the national average score in the TIMSS was 89 points behind the international average and 227 points below Singapore which had the highest score.

The Philippine Department of Education projects that it will take the Philippines 11 to 12 years to narrow the gap with the world average in achievement tests and 25 to 28 years to reach the Singapore level of proficiency.

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Brazil – Three in Fortaleza and one in Sao Paulo
Philippines – Three Little Libraries in Cagayan de Oro City
Canada – One in Lynn Lake , Manitoba