Let’s start with a prayer: “Your love and faithfulness, along with Your goodness and mercy, surround me daily, so I will not fear whatever might come against me. My trust is in You, God, and I give thanks to You for Your love and protection. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Grant, O Lord, thy protection and in protection, strength.”
Our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, must be turning in his grave. Heck, he must have been turning for many years now. It was he who proclaimed that “the youth are the fair hopes of our motherland.” And rightly so. Well, our honorable leaders must have forgotten or do not believe this since a news report reveals that results of a 2019 Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics showed that a high percentage of grade 5 Filipino students scored the lowest among six countries in mathematical, reading and writing literacy.
What’s more, the article also disclosed that grade 4 Filipino students were ranked last among 58 nations in another study that measured their math and science skills. What gives?
How can our youth be the “fair hopes of our motherland” when they have such poor learning skills? Shouldn’t our government, overwhelmingly ruled by members of political dynasties and the elite, invest in developing the skills and knowledge of its youth, and human resources, in general? Aren’t people supposed to be a nation’s most important resource?
Maybe, finding ways of averting this learning crisis especially among young people, should be in the list of priorities or resolutions of our honorable leaders for 2021. As they say, an educated populace is an empowered one. Just saying.
