Ignorance as a try

"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

This is a quotation attributed to American educator, Derek Bok.  The impact of this quotation is whopping towards both the society and the individual. Yes, if one invests on education, he will somehow contribute to the progress of the society, which is the indirect beneficiary of one's education. If a person tries ignorance, then he will contribute to the downfall of the society by creating another stratum of criminals, unemployed, homeless, sickly and defiant.

It is good to note that the National Statistics Office reported that the literacy rate in the Philippines is 92.3 percent or higher compared some 10 years ago. NSO's 2010 Census of Population and Housing showed that of the 71.5 million individuals who are 10 years old and above, 97.5 percent or 69.8 million were literate or could read and write.

But are we to stop in just appreciating the country's literacy rate? No, the Aquino administration has lifted the country to the levels of educational system of our neighbors in Asia. It abruptly decided to implement K-12. Ironically, the same administration has allocated only P309.43 billion as budget for education for 2014; P44.6-billion is appropriated for the construction, repair and rehabilitation of at least 43,000 kindergarten, elementary and secondary school buildings nationwide. This budget allocation for education is just part of the total P841.8-billion allocation for social services in the fiscal year 2014 General Appropriations Act. It is sad to note.

The scholarship program of the national government has received a meager amount of P7.45 billion, which shall be distributed to different agencies like the Commission on Higher Education, Department of Labor and Employment, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, the Department of Science and Technology, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Agrarian Reform, while State Universities and Colleges nationwide is just among the agencies that can get a pie of this budget allocation.

What a pittance!             

Nobody dreams to become ignorant. Only that opportunity narrows along the way that an individual's hard work to get quality education is being delimited by our highest representation of the society - the government itself.

One more thing, our government is very lenient in regulating tuition fees of private colleges and universities in the country that matriculation nowadays is getting unconscionable and unbearabale to the parents.

While every Juan de la Cruz is aiming for knowledge, the way our government trails our education system is leading towards giving ignorance a try - or a trifling education - to some Filipinos.