Foreign schools in PH not the solution

[Lee]

I guess that the removal of materials from class room walls didn't help any.
 

Quote

 

THE idea — or more like a wish — that good foreign universities could open satellite campuses or branches in the Philippines has been floated for the past 20 years. One reason cited is that it would save money for well-heeled Filipinos wishing to study overseas. Another is that the developing economy can already afford to host these foreign universities on Philippine soil.

The University of Nottingham in the UK has branches in Malaysia and China. The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business has a campus in Singapore. And New York University has a full-blown satellite school in Dubai, offering courses from undergraduate up to the MA and PhD levels.

But notice the commonality among Malaysia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. They are rich countries, with families able to afford the tuition and other school fees of these satellite schools. While the fees in these satellites are less than what is charged in the home schools, they are still steep. Nottingham in Malaysia charges at least $10,000 per year in tuition alone. The fees at the satellites in Singapore and UAE are much higher.

Moreover, these countries also have stable political conditions, strong internet connectivity, efficient transportation networks and good infrastructure. The shape of their social class structure is an onion, with a small group of wealthy people and a small group of poor people, with the widest social class belonging to the middle class. Whereas the Philippine social class structure has always been shaped like a pyramid.

In short, we could dream with all our might, but these satellite schools won't be open here. We know of one foreign university that sent a delegation to Manila to look into opening a campus here. What met them were horrible traffic jams, weak internet connectivity, a small percentage that could afford the fees — and a long list of requirements before a foreign company could start a business here.

Corollary to this is the proposed foreign ownership of Philippine schools, which is contained in the proposed Resolution of Both Houses 7 that is now being deliberated in Congress. Teachers and education personnel do not agree with this proposal.

The alliance called Teachers, Education Workers and Academics Against Charter Change (Teach) said that opening up Philippine schools to 100 percent foreign ownership would not solve the problems of the country's education system.

"The problem has been caused by decades of insufficient public funding for education, low salaries for teachers, perennial backlogs in instructional materials and facilities (classrooms, libraries, barangay reading centers, internet, etc.), stunting and malnutrition among our children... These are just a few of the perennial problems," the group said in a statement.

It said that allowing full foreign ownership of schools may force some small- and medium-sized private schools to shut down, "which can consequently cause labor layoffs and displacement of students, especially in areas that are underserved by the public schools."

"Rather than open up our schools to foreign ownership, the Philippine government should be reminded that improving the quality of education is a state obligation," it said.

Teach said that the "genuine global competitiveness" of Filipino students could be achieved not through this route but through "good management and optimal use of our own resources to continuously improve our education system."

It is indeed important for our education system to be benchmarked with global standards. But it is also equally important to be "responsive to our communities' needs and [do things] primarily meant to serve our own national development."

"We can still engage in internationalization — without 100 percent foreign ownership of schools — by engaging in mutually beneficial academic linkages, faculty and student exchanges, and through studying abroad to focus on best practices, which we can adapt to the Philippine situation," Teach concluded.

We have mentioned in this space our RX for Philippine education: increased funding for the Department of Education, higher salaries of teachers, reduction of class size to 25 students, supplying one textbook (or one e-book) per student, building classrooms, library reading centers for our students and communities, and stronger internet connectivity for online and hybrid learning.

There was a time in the 1960s when Asian students came to the Philippines to study at its good universities. But that time has passed, and we are now the laggards in Southeast Asia. We should overhaul the education system before it's too late.

 

https://www.manilatimes.net/2024/03/19/opinion/editorial/foreign-schools-in-ph-not-the-solution/1937406

[craftbeerlover]

7 hours ago, Lee said:

"The problem has been caused by decades of insufficient public funding for education, low salaries for teachers, perennial backlogs in instructional materials and facilities (classrooms, libraries, barangay reading centers, internet, etc.), stunting and malnutrition among our children... These are just a few of the perennial problems," the group said in a statement.

well, glad they said, "just a few of the perennial problems".   I know some private schools (up thru grade 12) are foreign owned guess this is just focused on Universities.  We have all said it a thousand times, the education system here is beyond being a total cluster ??????.   The Filipino people/government should be ashamed of themselves.

[scott h]

14 hours ago, craftbeerlover said:

The Filipino people/government should be ashamed of themselves.

Let's face it, this country just can't get out of its own way. Whether it be in education, national defense, agriculture, infrastructure, industrial development, law enforcement or any number of other categories the Philippines continually ranks below all of the worlds industrial countries and even below some "failed" states. 

What has amazed me for years is that with the number of Filipinos who are educated overseas, have relatives overseas, the millions who have worked overseas, that the best practices that they have learned never seem to filter down and be implemented here. 

However, having said all that, it is just fine with me! The longer the Philippines remains a backwater the longer my retirement income will allow us to live at a standard we expect. We have lived here long enough to learn what areas and situations to avoid so our standard of living is minimally affected. 

[craftbeerlover]

40 minutes ago, scott h said:

However, having said all that, it is just fine with me! The longer the Philippines remains a backwater the longer my retirement income will allow us to live at a standard we expect. We have lived here long enough to learn what areas and situations to avoid so our standard of living is minimally affected.

Same here except that I have kids that I need to put through school.   Otherwise, I would feel exactly the same way.

[hk blues]

4 hours ago, scott h said:

What has amazed me for years is that with the number of Filipinos who are educated overseas, have relatives overseas, the millions who have worked overseas, that the best practices that they have learned never seem to filter down and be implemented here. 

My theory is there is nothing amazing about it at all - the whole cluster**** system is designed to keep the status quo with the rich having a very vested interest in ensuring nothing changes and successive governments having a vested interest in keeping the rich happy.  There is no other logical conclusion - depressing as it simply means nothing will change, ever. 

Best not to think too much about it and live our lives in the relative comfort most of us members enjoy.  

[hk blues]

3 hours ago, craftbeerlover said:

Same here except that I have kids that I need to put through school.   Otherwise, I would feel exactly the same way.

Likewise, I have an 11-year old son but I'm philosophical about things - he's lucky enough to be getting an education above the 'normal' here and as such has more of an advantage than he'd have if we were living in the UK where he'd be one of those in the 'normal' system and thus have no such advantage.  Of course, that assumes we remain here.  

[Mike J]

Conversation with my wife yesterday.  FYI - my wife has three degrees, two bachelor and one masters.  I have a nephew who is in grade four.  He told my wife that his teacher is frequently absent and missed two days last week.  He also told the wife that when in class she does not really teach them anything and "pretends to be teaching if any of the other staff enters the room".  Wife asks the name of the teacher.  Wife says the teacher was one of her students when my wife taught science many years ago.  "And she was one of the dumbest students in my class".  

Lack of priorities + lack of materials + lack of resources + lack of good teachers + lack of classrooms = failing education system.

The other challenge is that a good education system is expensive.  The Philippines spending per student is far lower than most countries. 

<snip>

The Philippines spends an average of $11,030 per student, nine times lower than the average expenditure ($102,612) of the other countries that participated in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa).

The computation is based on the cumulative expenditure per student over 10 years—from age 6 to 15.

<end snip>  source = https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1872364/ph-spending-per-student-9-times-lower-than-global-average

source = https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cmd/education-expenditures-by-country

  

[Possum]

4 hours ago, Mike J said:

Lack of priorities + lack of materials + lack of resources + lack of good teachers + lack of classrooms = failing education system.

As others have mentioned this appears to be by design as it is certainly no secret.

[craftbeerlover]

2 hours ago, Possum said:

As others have mentioned this appears to be by design as it is certainly no secret.

it absolutely is by design.  One of the problems is, a vast majority have been living like like this for so many generations, they do not know, and/or just accept status quo (probably both).   Its a fricken crime against humanity, it really is, and it pisses me off each time I think about it (probably only because I have school age children). 

[Possum]

12 minutes ago, craftbeerlover said:

it absolutely is by design.  One of the problems is, a vast majority have been living like like this for so many generations, they do not know, and/or just accept status quo (probably both).   Its a fricken crime against humanity, it really is, and it pisses me off each time I think about it (probably only because I have school age children). 

I also think its criminal and that's why the political dynasties as well as corruption continues. My children go to a private school but the curriculum is Dept. of Ed mandated. Geography hasn't shown up yet as a subject. [Might not be able to find north, south, east or west but the students can dance.] Knowing that they will eventually have to compete for jobs with students from all over the world we supplement with online courses . Oldest daughter was invited to participate in a national math competition this year. Location? Baugio which is hardly a central location on Luzon. We opted out as it seemed to be an outing for the teachers.