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One in six school-age children in the Philippines is
being deprived of education and the number is rising steadily, the
government said on Monday.
The percentage of children
enrolled in primary school was down to 83 percent in the 2006 to
2007 school year from 90 percent five years earlier, the National
Statistical Coordination Board said in a study.
The numbers are even worse for
secondary education at 59 percent, though they have been steady over
five years.
The data “indicate that the
country is still far from achieving the goal of providing basic
education to all,” the government agency said.
President Gloria Arroyo
acknowledged last month that the rising cost of food and energy may
be pricing education out of the reach of some Filipino families.
She ordered schools not to
require their students to wear uniforms to reduce the cost.
Poverty and high growth rate of
population are regarded as two major reasons for the country’s
poor performance in basic education.
The Philippines’ population is
growing at 2.36 percent annually, the highest in Southeast Asia, and
some 30 percent of the population live below the poverty line.
--AFP And Xinhua
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