By: Justin Kelly and Ferdinand Suba, Jr.

What to Expect A general overview of the history of the primary

education systems of the Philippines and Ethiopia respectively

What the United Nations and other organizations are currently doing

The importance and role 0f the second Millennium Development Goal – Achieving Universal Primary Education

In addition to facts and statistics, our respective opinions on the issue of primary education

A Primer on the Philippine Primary Education System The education system of Philippines is similar to that

of the United States, stemming from the fact that it was an American colony for more than 48 years

The Bureau of Elementary Education is responsible for making preprimary and primary education available to every Filipino child and maintaining its standard.

Primer Continued Pre-primary education in Philippines starts at the age

of three.

When the child reaches the age of five, they attend nursery school and then kindergarten.

The primary medium of instruction in all the schools of Philippines is English.

Six years of primary education in Philippines is compulsory and provided for free in the public schools.

Constitutional According to the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines:

Article XIV, Section 2, Part 2: “The state shall establish and maintain a system of free public education in the elementary and high schools levels. Without limiting the natural rights of parents to rear their children, elementary education is compulsory for all children of school age.”

Part 3: “Establish and maintain a system of scholarship grants, student loan programs, subsidies, and other incentives which shall be available to deserving students in both public and private schools, especially to the under-privileged.”

United Nations MDG Analysis MDG 2 – Achieve Universal Primary Education

Analysis of the Philippines – Low

The country’s progress is insufficient thus far, leading many to believe that universal primary education in the Philippines cannot be achieved by 2015.

At this time, Primary School Enrollments are relatively high at 84%

Completion rates – 73%

Primary Problems Access

Access of 3- to 5-year-old children to ECCD remains low at 34%. For every ten 5-year-old children, only six have access to preschool education. Access has been notably lower among younger children (3-4), especially boys and rural children.

Quality

Public education focuses on developing cognitive abilities but lacks instruction for life skills and critical thinking that are relevant to the needs of most school-age children.

Dropouts

Dropout rates double as children reach secondary school.

Interesting Find: Australian Aid From 2006-2010, the Australian government had worked

with the Philippines’ DepEd in reforming the basic education system and in achieving improved education outcomes for millions of Filipino children.

AusAid helps improve teaching competencies, the quality of and access to learning materials, and education management systems to improve DepEd’s resource allocation and strengthen human resource management.

Projects: S.T.R.I.V.E.

Supporting Transformation By Reducing Insecurity and Vulnerability with Economic Strengthening

B.E.A.M.

Project S.T.R.I.V.E. Starting in October 2007, the program is set for 5 years

From the perspective of the Philippines, STRIVE is an initiative of Action for Enterprise.

It works to improve child well-being by strategically linking small producers in poor coastal communities with key market actors in other parts of appropriate value chains.

By facilitating these activities with existing actors, the project aims to achieve sustainable improvements in production, leading to increases in household income.

UNICEF’s Stance UNICEF has helped achieve

many gains in Filipino Primary

Education

These include:

the Barangay (Village) Day Care Center Law calls for the establishment of educational and day care

centers in every village;

the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Act mandates all villages to have day care centers and early

learning institutions for children

Gender Parity According to UNICEF, the Philippines is rather

impartial when it comes to education and gender.

Boys and girls have almost equal opportunities to attend primary school.

Notably however, more girls have stayed in school and gotten better grades than boys.

The latest Philippine Human Development Report reveals that 53.5% of females are high school graduates compared to 50.6% of boys.

History of Education in Ethiopia Education was entirely controlled by the Ethiopian

Orthodox Church until 1900

Teaching a child to read and write was facilitated by and centered around Scripture.

The few who learned to read and write belonged to the elite Amhara class

Even in its infancy, formal education in Ethiopia displayed gender discrimination

Richard Pankhurst: where Amharic was spoken, one-fifth of the male population could read

History Continued In 1908, under the guidance of Hanna Salib, the first

secular public school was established

The Italians seized control of Ethiopia and its education system in 1936

The Italian reorganization set the already faltering system back significantly

Despite an overhaul of the system in 1950, Ethiopian education continued to fail

The UN Arrives In May 1961, Ethiopia hosted the United Nations-

sponsored Conference of African States on the Development of Education.

Among other things, the conference highlighted Ethiopia's educational deficiencies.

The Ethiopian education system, especially in primary and secondary education, was ranked towards the bottom among African nations

Attendance rates were alarmingly low, and dropout rates were high, especially among women and non-Christians

The UN Spurs Reform Embarrassed by these circumstances, the Ministry of

Education developed a new education policy, which was in effect until 1974.

Extending from 1962 to 1974, the policy gave precedence to the establishment of technical training schools, although academic education also was expanded.

Unfortunately, this plan, like those that had preceded it, failed. The government could not combat the high dropout rate or give teens marketable skills, leaving spending at 4.3% of GDP for education.

Current System Formal education is composed of six years of

elementary school, two years of junior elementary, and four years of senior secondary. Most children start school at age five.

An average class size is 65 students per teacher, and few school supplies are available to each student; schools often lack pens, books, paper, and most schools do not even have water or useable toilets.

The society of Ethiopia expects teachers and parents to use corporal punishment to maintain order and discipline.

More on the Current System The education system in Ethiopia resembles that of

sixty years ago, despite attempts at reform.

Because the government has been woefully ineffective in enacting reform, Ethiopians have taken initiative themselves.

UNICEF and the Ethiopians In 2004, a powerful group of young Ethiopians in

conjunction with UNICEF took a close look at their own country’s education system. Known as the Ethiopian Youth Forum, the group had been lobbying the government to help children, and girls in particular, attend school.

Members of the group interviewed 550 students in 20 elementary schools to collect information on behalf of the growing countrywide movement for free access to primary education.

Survey Data Although small in scope, the survey conducted by the

EYF called to mind these more grievous statistics

7.8 million children had received no education

This was the case for 69% of the children because parents could not afford education fees

For 29%, parents could not afford school supplies

18% stayed home to perform housework

13% had too far of a walk

8% stay ed behind to carry water

7% had no one to take them to school

Resulting Efforts UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP

All of these organizations have striven to improve primary education in Ethiopia

Received the help of the IMF and World Bank

Improve teacher competence

Provide supplies: School-in-a-Box Kit

Raise awareness about schooling opportunities

Millennium Development Goal As noted, the second MDG stipulates that by 2015

there should be universal access to primary education.

Launched in 2005 by UNICEF and the World Bank, the School Fee Abolition Initiative (SFAI) is one of the ‘Bold Initiatives’ aiming to make a breakthrough in access to basic education.

Similar initiatives: COEEF, Ethiopia Education Aid

Despite these efforts, however, according to an article published by UNICEF, Ethiopia is not on pace to accomplish MDG #2 by 2015

Why It Matters “There is no development without education,” said

Elleni Muluneh, a founding member of the Ethiopian Youth Forum. “The more we educate children, the more we become developed in the long run. Maybe one day we will manage to get every child in the country behind a school desk.”

Scarce Employment and Marketable Skills

Inescapable Poverty

What else can be done? In addition to continuing current efforts, future efforts

can be made with a more specific focus on promoting the importance of education

Attempting to reshape the social structure so that education may be seen as a crucial element of childhood and an integral ingredient for future success

UNESCO: the vast majority of Ethiopian adults see work as more important than school