Societal conditions on curriculum development

1. SOCIETAL CONDITIONS
ON CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT IN
TERMS OF ECONOMICS
Ms. April Rose M. Botardo

2. The latest report by the National Statistical
Coordination Board, recognizing that one in six school-
age-children is deprived of education, it only say what is
in store in our country’s future.
The enrollment rate in our primary school five years
ago, was 90%. Last year, it dropped to 83%, and
the number is rising. The situation is worse for
secondary education, where enrollment rate has been
steady at only 59% over the same period.

3. Unfortunately, this has been going on in decades. Past
government administrations are equally guilty of negligence
to check the increasing numbers of illiterate Filipinos.
Illiteracy means the difficulty of a person to read and write,
and even if he or she can read or write, the comprehension
is low and have difficulty following simple written
instructions. Education has been in the backburner and no
serious effort was made to make it a major strategy for
our progress.
Education has a dramatic effect on economic
development and growth. In fact, other countries are
starting to realize how drop-out rates affect to their
economies. In the Philippines, nobody knows the extent of
its effect.

4. It appears that we lost sight of the implications of this issue,
because there is no statistical data to show how much was lost in
terms of peso value due to school drop-outs and illiteracy. Thus,
it is not only lost opportunity to get better income, but the
government also lost tax revenues from a productive and
competitive population.
School non-completion affects so many things. It increases
criminal activity, and adds to cost of prison and welfare services.
By simply following a simple linear cause and effect analysis, they
have lower lifetime earnings, which reduces buying power,
lowers tax revenues for governments and reduces economic
growth. When you extend your analysis, it results to decreased
health status, more criminal activity, higher rates of teen
pregnancy and single motherhood. Wherever you look at it, just
higher costs all around.

5. Aside from those stated, the education system has direct
effect on future economic growth. A major consideration of a
business to invest in a country or in a community, is the economic
impact data. Part of this data is the education achievement of the
community, along with items such as transportation and
workforce development. With the present condition, we can’t
hardly make the first cut because companies will see they don’t
have a pipeline to supply them with the workforce they need.
We can no longer deny that the manufacturing sector cannot
sustain the rising need for employment, and high-tech jobs are
coming on. It is expected that majority of the jobs created over
the next 10 years will be high-tech. How can this country
compete if many of our population didn’t even finish elementary
school?

6. We are already seeing economic development pass us.
The issue at hand should not only be viewed from the
perspective of children dropping-out of school and the
inability of their parents to find better jobs. It is about lost
opportunities - lost lifetime earnings of those who were
deprived of education, lost revenues for the government,
and lost opportunity for this country to catch-up with our
already developed neighbors.
We need not fight over it now. The government should
take the lead, to bring all the players to the table and define
a strategic education plan. Other sectors are waiting. I am
sure the business leaders are hungry to know what they can
specifically do to help.