International Literacy Day: education opens the golden door

“Bilang mga bata, tayo’s pag-asa ng mundo, bilang kabataan tayo’y realidad.”

“Como mga aki, kita esperanza nin kinaban, como mga jovenes kita an realidad.”

“De ninos somos la esperanza del mundo; de jovenes una realidad.”

As children we are the hope of the world; as youth we are a reality.

–Revisita Maryknoll(09/08 Vol.29, #7)

On a wonderful day, UP Ibalon’s Dan Daz, an artistic photographer of Legazpi City, Philippines takes this picture in a feeding center in Rapu-Rapu, Albay of an innocent child who’s among the hopes of our country. Poverty can be an obstacle to literacy, but nurturing brings hope. What does she want to be in the future? Education transforms and opens the golden door.(International Literacy Day, September 8, 2008) Photo Credits: Dan Daz; JunCruznaLigas; http://www.UN.org)

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84.1% functional literacy of Filipinos, but…

“Literacy is the Best Remedy,” is the theme of the UN International Literacy day observed on September 8. Based on multi-agency data which include the Department of Education and the National Statistical Council, the functional literacy of Filipinos is 84.1%. This means 67 million of us are functionally literate and 12.72 million are illiterate. Not bad.

But the big number of illiterates is still a huge problem. With a sizeable impaired segment of the population, we cannot tap the maximum potential and productivity of our workers. Having close to 13 million individuals lacking in education and skills is a huge drain in our pool of nation builders. By estimates, this is close or a bit larger than the extent of the country’s brain drain—Filipinos who have left for jobs abroad.

Philippines must not slacken for about 65% of our youth are out of school and 56% of our students are not able to graduate in high school. Philstar (09/09/08, Roces, AR) There is an ominous message in this statistics as we proceed to the 21st century. Realizing that among the ranks of highly schooled literates, a significant number of talented Filipinos use their educational edge for their own selfish ends, the picture doesn’t look pretty. (Photo Credits: EDP@ICC)=0=

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