Youth & Children

Reflecting hard times, 2 million Filipino children dropped out of school in ’06

by
Jun 02, 2007

Many of these children might have been forced to leave school to earn a living. In 2006 some 2.5 million children aged 5 to 17 were working either to augment family income or simply to survive. The number of children in school is also dropping: in SY 2005-2006 only 84% of children aged 6-11 was able to attend elementary school, a sharp decrease from 90% in 2001-2002.

Tuition hike blamed on ‘grand conspiracy’ between Arroyo, private schools

by
May 30, 2007

According to Kabataan partylist, CHED granted the tuition increase even before consultations in schools for such an increase has yet to be completed. It said the hike came after a meeting between President Arroyo and COCOPEA, the organization of private schools. The CHED’s “unilateral and shameless act shows the commission’s subservience and capitulation to strong pressure from school owners even at the expense of students.”

A child works for education

by
May 30, 2007

Argel Kiawan, 14 and an incoming second-year high-school student, does some spade work outside the Magallanes Elementary School, which pays him 100 pesos a day. Kiawan says his family is poor so he needs to find work for his lunch money and daily school allowance. That a minor like him was hired by a public school to do manual labor likewise underscores the problem of child labor in Davao City and the flagrant violation even by government officials of the country’s child-labor laws. Click for larger photo (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)