Education in the Philippines

I have been talking with an early childhood teacher in the Philippines. She moved to the country five years ago. Her husband, years ago, was stationed in the Philippines for the military and they decided to move back when he retired. She half works and half volunteers at a local preschool and a local play center. The preschool costs parents money to send their children to, as well as the play center, but the play center is significantly less expensive. Many more children go to the play center. The preschool provides food for the children, where the play center expects children to supply their own food. The preschool does some academics and many activities to prepare children for kindergarten, the play center teaches some preparation skills but not as regularly as the preschool. The teacher said that she is excited for new funding that the play center may be receiving because they will be able to hire more teachers, purchase new learning materials, and provide more for the children they care for.

http://www.whiteband.org/en/news/philippines-early-education

I found an article on the website of GCAP (Global Call to Action Against Poverty: Together for Equality). They discussed an act called the Early Years Act that will help over 50,000 daycare centers to become learning centers. The country is trying to reduce the number of children that drop out of school, to break the poverty cycle, and regardless of background or income children will have equal educational opportunities. This act sounds like an excellent step in the right direction to change the education system in the Philippines. We already know that a solid building needs to be built upon a solid base, and the same applies to education. We need children to be exposed to quality education from the start.