MANILA — The number of out-of-school youth in the country has dropped to 1.2 million from 2.9 million in 2008, a study by the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) said.
In a presentation to the officials of the Department of Education (DepEd), PIDS Senior Research Fellow Jose Ramon Albert and University of the Philippines Professor Clarissa David said the passage of the Kindergarten Law, the implementation of the K-12 program and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) were major contributors to the progress.
The study also recommended a stronger cooperation among the DepEd, local government units, schools, and parents to track and monitor school attendance and the various reasons and tendencies for student drop-out.
The report also called on the DepEd and its partners to continue intensifying the campaign for Early Childhood Education and on-time school entry in Kindergarten.
The PIDS study was backed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children.
UNICEF Philippines Representative Lotta Sylwander said that while there has been positive development in the Philippines, there is still a long way to go before universal primary education can be achieved here.
"We need to continue paying attention to what goes on in the classroom, quality of learning and focus on the processes and changes that occur through the K-12 implementation,” she said.
"A million children still out of school is a staggering figure, and its impact will be big. We need urgent, intensive and concerted efforts by the DepEd and all education stakeholders to bring our children to school,” the official added.//
