How Does Poverty Affect the Literacy Rate of Filipinos?

This is a short term paper on the topic of poverty and its effects in the quality of education and literacy in the Philippines as part of my requirements in Reading Course subject for my Masters in English, Major in Applied Linguistics degree.

I. Introduction

The question of literacy always comes to mind when talking about social and economic standing, both on a personal and national level.  Stereotyping leads to an erroneous notion that developing countries (also called third-world countries) have illiterate citizens and poor families have illiterate family members. Although poverty does affect literacy on all aspects, it does not solely decide the outcome and quality of education people get as seen in the statistics of developing countries, such as the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia in comparison to the standing of developed countries (also called first-world countries). When it comes to the reading ability of adult citizens, the country is even considerably at par with other first-world nations, such as Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

In reality, financial status will always be connected to literacy because education comes with expense and health is a life-long maintenance. Nonetheless, link does not decide cause and effect, and in this case, there might be variances that truly show how poverty affects the reading ability of people regardless of the common stereotype.

The concern here, therefore, is to look into the effects of high cost of living in comparison to a person’s or  family’s net income, high education expenditures, poor nutrition, geographical location in accordance to regional economic status, and peace and order of the community.

This evaluation tries to validate if poverty really is a hindrance to literacy and pinpoint the aspects where the stereotypical poverty-literacy connection does not match real figures.

II. Statement of the Problem

The connection between poverty and education does not need further elucidation, the same way how clear poverty becomes a factor in determining the reading ability of a person. However, the deeper link and correlation between available data and statistics show that there is more to it than meets the eye – that poverty is the leading challenge of Filipinos in attaining basic education but still does not warrant illiteracy. Thus, the questions are how poverty truly affects reading and literacy as a whole, and to what extent it does.

III. Discussion

There are three identified risk factors associated with the different challenges in reading: low income, schools with high rates of poor performance, and linguistic difference.

The first factor is a likely precursor of poverty as low income leads to financial instability within a household, and on a national level, low Gross Domestic Product (GDP). On the other hand, the second factor is a likely result of shortness in funding to the education sector by the national government whether due to poor budget allocation or low GDP.

Families with income lower than their expected expenditures tend to sacrifice some basic needs that are deemed less necessary for survival, education included. A good education is not affordable to everyone, and it often gets the first strike from the list. Children are enrolled in crammed public schools that lack teachers and facilities, sometimes even resulting to multi-grade system of teaching. School supplies including reading materials become scarce, and the expenses of attending classes everyday become even harder to sustain, resulting to high absentee rate and low quality of received education.

What’s more is that many families opt to pull the last resort which is to delay formal education altogether to make ends meet. Delaying education is, of course, delaying the reading development of a learner. Unfortunately, many children who leave formal education start to shy away from schools in order to help their families make a living.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Philippines is one of the countries with the highest incidence of child labor in Southeast Asia. As a matter of fact, it is not rare for Filipinos to see children peddling different commodities on the streets, from hot pandesal to tabloids. Adults and minors work side by side on farms under the scorching sun without any concern if their young bodies can handle heat and exhaustion to begin with. Similarly, marketplaces are not without children helping adults in selling products, if not doing it all by themselves.

Child labor in the Philippines is a common sight, more like a part of the Philippine culture. It is so common that many Filipinos seem to no longer mind what’s happening around them, or ask themselves why there are so many children on the streets and workplaces at a time when normal classes should have been taking place. Nevertheless, because the issue of poverty is highly relatable to most Filipinos, the concern for education becomes a concern for living.

When meager income leads to a deficit in cost of living and expenditure, other basic needs are sacrificed next. Nutrition and recreation become luxury rather than necessity, both of which are important contributing factors to the reading development of a learner.

A child that gets less nutrition naturally performs poorer in school. He barely has enough strength to get by the day, much more to focus on lessons he hardly understands. Normally, mental and biological growths are also stunted with the lack of proper nutritional support. This leads to slower comprehension and lower intelligence quotient, ultimately leading to poorer reading ability compared to those who get sufficient nutritional support and healthy diet.

Another concern that is worth mentioning is the reduced access to healthcare and health facilities that should have been partial solutions to rising absentee rate amongst poor children. As impoverish families have limited access to health services, the sustainability of education and growth are also badly affected. Health concerns become more of a challenge compared to those who have fair and regular access to health services and facilities; thus, allowing them to maintain focus on education.

As basic nutrition is sacrificed, so does recreation. A child who lives in a poor family has less exposure to the media, which also means less access for reading and stimulation of the brain. No reinforcement of the learned reading ability happens outside the school, particularly at home. While a child who belongs to a well-off family can afford to practice what he learns through interaction and exposure, a child who has not much world to move around also has limited learning reinforcement.

Moreover, the dream of owning quality reading materials and visiting cultural and educational facilities, such as museums and libraries, becomes farfetched for poor children. Their vocabulary is limited due to the lack of references, such as English-Filipino dictionary and thesaurus. These are the types of educational support that well-off families can afford for their children – support that over time molds their mental and cognitive abilities for higher literacy.

Even the conduciveness of home itself significantly affects the reading development of a child. A home that does not encourage learning is less likely to produce a good reader. Poor ventilation and insulation lower comfort and tremendously affect concentration and mental performance. The lack of electricity and enough space at home also means less time to study. In that sense, conduciveness becomes a rare commodity that only few can afford.

How about the schools with poor performance? How are they connected to poverty and ultimately affect the reading ability of children?

Poor economy usually produces disappointing performance of schools. The substandard education system then trickles to educators and facilities down to the students who have no other choice but to make do of what is provided in their communities. This correlation is evident in the lower literacy rate in poorer regions and the higher literacy rate in richer regions.

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), Metro Manila has the highest literacy rate of 99.7% amongst all regions in the country. Despite the high density of poor families in NCR, the budget allotment for education and education facilities in the capital region is higher compared to the other regions. If the government does not concentrate on NCR for obvious reasons, given its current poverty rate matched with high population density, there is probably no chance for it to record high literacy rate in any way.

On the other hand, the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) holds the lowest literacy rate amongst all regions at 82.5% – an effect that is likely influenced by its poor regional economy, which is currently the lowest in the whole country. The correlation between ARMM’s economic standing and low literacy rate is so conclusive that it follows another poor region in the board – Central Mindanao with a literacy rate of 92.1% (noticeably way higher compared to ARMM’s but is still the second lowest in the country).

Among all the provinces in the country, Cavite recorded the highest literacy rate of 99.6% while Sulu recorded the lowest of 77.6%, almost five percent short from its regional average. Coincidentally, Cavite is one of the 10 richest provinces in the country while Sulu is one of the three poorest. It clearly shows what poverty on a provincial scale can do to the literacy rate of its people.

Aside from financial struggle within families, the variation in the literacy rate of regions and provinces can be attributed to school attendance (still connected to poverty). For instance, as ARMM has the lowest literacy rate amongst all regions, it also recorded the lowest school attendance of only 59.3%. The same is evident in Basilan where the school attendance is at an all-time low of 52.8%, way below its regional average. Coincidentally, the province is also one of the poorest in the country, with one of the lowest literacy rates.

The continuous decline of school attendance and school activity as a whole here can be attributed to the conflicts and threats that still plague the whole region up to this day. Right there, it can already be concluded that school attendance is a factor that determines the quality of education the students get. Likewise, the peace and order of a region greatly affects the access of students to education.

Nevertheless, although school attendance is undeniably important towards the attainment of literacy, it can be seen in the rate of Batanes that high attendance rate does not always result to high literacy rate. The island province has the highest attendance rate of 82.7%, the highest in the country, but still did not result to the highest literacy rate. This is where other factors enter the picture, such as family support, health, and conduciveness of home. It can be surmised from this data alone that the quality of educational facilities, educators, instructional materials, and domestic comfort and wellness all decide literacy in an almost equal level.

Both low income and poor performance of schools only show that achieving financial stability and bigger education budget from the government could have sufficed in solving two-thirds of the problem encompassing reading ability and literacy as a whole. What’s left is to understand how the government takes action to handle poverty and manage its effects to the literacy rate of Filipinos. How does the government address the current situation that connects poverty and literacy in the Philippines?

To understand it, the data should be laid out in an international context.

According to the CIA World Factbook, the Philippines is currently in the top 100 countries with the highest literacy rate. With an international rate of 95.4%, it is way above the international average of 84.1%. Having said that, it can be considered that the Philippine literacy rate is above the international standard, which means that the country’s status as a third-world country does not cinch its citizens’ ability to read and write.

World map indicating literacy by country in 2013
(2013 UN Human Development Report and Individual statistics departments) Grey = no data

As a matter of fact, the Philippines recorded higher literacy rate than its neighboring countries that also allot higher budget for education. As of 2013, the Philippine government allotted $7.07 billion to the education department while Malaysia allotted $17 billion – more than double that of the Philippines – but still ended up with a lower average of 93.1%, more than 2% lower than that of the Philippines.

The same is true for China with an education budget of $63 billion, Thailand with $16 billion, and Indonesia with $7.098 billion. All of these countries have higher education budget than the Philippines but still recorded lower literacy rate of 95.1%, 93.5%, and 92.8%, respectively. This proves that higher education budget does not always lead to better education system.

It can also be said that the Philippine education is at par with other first-world countries that also have higher education budget, including Singapore with a literacy rate of 95.9%, Australia with 96%, and Hong Kong with 93.5%, which actually has a lower literacy rate than the country.

A similar trend can be seen in the literacy rate of other developing countries, such as Azerbaijan with 99.8%, Barbados with 99.7%, Tajikistan with 99.7%, Ukraine with 99.7%, Armenia with 99.6%, Kazakhstan with 99.5%, and Bosnia and Herzegovina with 99.4%. All of these third-world countries have higher literacy rate than many first-world countries, and even superpowers, such as Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States, all of which recorded 99% literacy rate.

The Philippines might not be as advanced compared to other countries when it comes to technology and educational facilities, and the level of poverty in the country might still put it in the third-world country list, but the resiliency of Filipinos and desire to learn make the people world-class.

IV. Conclusion

        From the given data, it can be concluded that poverty affects the reading ability of people but does not solely determine literacy. The quality of education, nutrition, peace and order, and quality of living are still the biggest factors that affect literacy rate, but government intervention and personal perseverance can alleviate their effects as proven by statistics in an international scale.

        It cannot be denied that family, environment, and government play a very important role in the mental development of a student. It cannot also be denied that the country is currently facing a lot of challenges with regard to lack of educators and educational facilities, nutrition, remoteness of communities, and peace and order. Nevertheless, while these problems do not decide the future of learners and incoming data, it can be said that alleviating poverty will definitely raise literacy rate and enhance the learning environment of students.

V. Recommendations

        Considering the aforementioned data and current scenario in the Philippine education, the following recommendations are given:

1. The government should launch programs that will permanently curb the rising poverty rate of the country. Moreover, each family should have the capability of becoming financially independent to ensure that all of their daily expenditures including education be taken care of.

2. The government should improve the Philippine education system and educational facilities to increase the accessibility of education and develop a more conducive learning environment, free of health and safety risks, for all learners.

3. The government should capitalize on industries that will generate more jobs for Filipinos to increase their income; thus, allowing them to spend more for education.

4. Both the private and public sectors, with the leadership of the national government, should look into the factors that lead to better education and higher literacy rate of other regions and provinces to be emulated by those with lower literacy rate and absentee rate.

5. A student should never stop seeking for education regardless of social and economic status because these factors do not decide destiny. Rather, it is decided by one’s willingness and persistence to learn.

VI. References

Central Intelligence Agency (2013). Intelligence and Analysis – Products. ISSN 1553-8133

United Nations Development Program (2013). The 2013 Human Development Report—The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World. Human Development Report Office (HDRO). pp 144-147

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_country. Developing country. Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate. List of countries by literacy rate. Wikipedia

http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/third_world_countries.htm. Third world countries. Nations Online

http://www.nscb.gov.ph/secstat/d_educ.asp. National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB)

http://web0.psa.gov.ph/content/education-women-and-men. Education of Women and Men. Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)—National Statistics Office (NSO)