Perdurable differences and incompetent higher-ups as students’ liability amidst the pandemic
In this world, differences sadly matter. Despite passed laws and other factors contributing to the advocacy of ‘equal opportunities for everyone’, differences can create boundaries and kill dreams, with those involved having insufficient power to revoke such unfairness. Similar to the recent student admission system of premier schools in the country, that was solely based on applicants’ grades in past year levels, depriving hundreds of potential students.
Such systems were created in consideration of the constant strain caused by the active COVID-19 pandemic, leaving no choice but to abide in merit-based admissions. Or did it really?
In the past 15 months, under different adjustments in the education sector, higher authorities released positive remarks about the flow of their programs; which hid the rotten truth that had already created damage scaling from the students’ mental health to their future lives. Moreover, despite hearing such issues, no significant solutions were made, emphasizing the government’s incompetence for the country’s education.
Of all the problems, the mode of learning, blended learning or modular and online classes, was the most problematic. Tracing back this year’s budget for the education sector, no support was given to create additional classrooms, together with facilities and equipment. This low precedence for the sector created a domino effect, such as the unbalance cuts between the P83.5M subsidy for medical students in SUCs and the zero budget cut for financial assistance of private school students, resulting to less and less private schools, with many unenrolled students and unemployed teachers in the blended learning setup.
In addition, no budget was specialized for the resumption of face-to-face classes, including the admission processes for renowned schools in the country. Such posteriority resulted to the newest admission system for one of the top universities in the country, University of the Philippines (UP), as an example. Its system moderately relied on the applicants’ previous final grades, affecting schools that have rigorous programs, such as the Philippine Science High School System (PSHSS), which held high passing rates in the past entrance exam admission style of the said university.
With all of the scenarios stated above, how can the country’s students persist as non-priorities in the next school year? Is it the poor students’ fault that they cannot continue? Or is it the result of the hardships implicated by an already rotten system?
