EDUCATION and POVERTY

“When a country is well governed, poverty and mean condition are things to be

ashamed of. When a country is poorly governed, riches and honor are things to be

ashamed of. ˝ - Confucius (c. 500 CE)

Wikipedia defines education as “the process of facilitating learning or the

acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits.

Education according to Thesaurus.com, it is the act or process of imparting or

acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment and

generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.

Education is for many an escape route away from poverty. In our country,

millions of Filipinos lives below poverty line. Education system in the Philippines is

highly influenced by the Americans. It is provided by public and private schools,

colleges, universities and technical and vocational institutions. It is the most powerful

weapon we can use to break the cycle of poverty and make a change to the world. It is

also the Art of appreciating life. Its purpose is to teach us positive thinking, as well as

helping others. This can give us knowledge and it changes something to a better one. It

helps develop or improve one’s life and build ideas, opinions, and point of views on

things, of people’s lives.

In the Philippines, education sector remained problematic. According to study based on

2017 data survey, 5 out 0f 10 families, children were deprived of Basic Education.
 Education is the key in breaking the cycle of poverty. And a fundamental human

rights that every one of the sides of the world is entitled to claim it.

The impact of Education is most important necessity in one’s life because

without it we would not have brighter future. We could not reach our dreams in life.

Through Education, every person can acquire knowledge and knowledge is a powerful

benefit in our understanding. Our quality of life in the society and employment will

have a greater effect through Education. But how can we achieve or succeed in

Education if we are financially problematic? Poverty is everyone’s problem. Not just in

our country but also around the world. As we can see in the news (locally and

internationally), there are young/innocent people who are affected of Poverty. At the

early age, they need to work and earn for a living for their family and being deprived of

their childhood life. – No Play, No Childhood and the worst is No Education. If no

Education then Less chance of having a better Life. As a teacher, I encountered many

students who really live and experience Poverty, that they need to strive harder and

even need to be absent from the class to provide all the things needed in school. Some of

them will come to school with an empty stomach. Because of Poverty, a lot of pains and

struggles in life they are experiencing, their grades will be affected and the sad thing is

Education will be endangered. This time, if we don’t have money, there will be No

progress in our life. But we Filipinos, really don’t lose hope even how problematic we

are especially in terms of financial aspect. Lack of education means lack of being
Taught. Education can be a process as long as it facilitates learning. Simply living itself

can be education. Experience is valuable education. Lack of Education leads to poverty.

According to Mahatma Gandhi, “Poverty is the worst form of violence.”

Wikipedia defines Poverty as not having enough material possessions or income for a

person’s needs. Poverty may include social, economic and political.

In reality, poverty is “a chronic and debilitating condition that results from

multiple adverse synergistic risk factors and affects the mind, body, and soul.”

Children living in poverty tend to be exposed to more stress, more intense and

longer lasting stress that negatively impact attention, focus, cognition, IQ and social

skills.

Issues like hunger, illness and thirst are both causes and effects of Poverty. The

causes and effects of poverty are often interrelated in such a way that one problem

hardly ever occurs alone.

Poverty can be dimensions and cause level. Dimension poverty this refers to lack

of basic needs like water, sanitation, shelter, health, education, food, nutrition and rest.

Cause level poverty, this refers to the entitlements.

Let us take Poverty as a greatest challenge in life. A challenge that we can

improve our lives but how? For me, I believe that Education can really help us alleviate

our situation from poverty. Investing in Education provide significant development

benefits. Education can bring us out of the darkness of Ignorance and improve our

mental and thinking capability. If people are well educated, then our society will be less

issues and there will be progress of growth and development, because there will be

enough support in the economy. It can make us feel respected and appreciated.

Education and Poverty are linked to each other and how will be stopped. I

had a chance to ask some of my students about Education and Poverty. On their

opinion about it, Poverty is not a hindrance to Education. There are a lot schools

governed by our government offering free education. As long as you have the will to

survive and succeed in life. Through Education, the lives of every people will be

transformed and of course we can learn about ethics and values. Having Education

helps us prepare for our future by acquiring skills and knowledge in providing

livelihood to us and our family. But now, acquiring higher education has become an

important factor in getting a job and a position.

Every teacher should provide hope to every student. Every student living in

poverty, hope and faith for tomorrow are the only things that keep them going each

day.

As a parent of two kids, I am encouraging my children to finish education

because this is the only way, they can uplift their status in life. With education and the

willingness to learn after you finish school, mercy in life will be experienced and will be

enjoyed. They will be respected and appreciated in the society. And most especially,

they will get a stable job.

 Therefore, Education is widely the main exit route from poverty. It is the

backbone of the growth and development of individuals and the nation. However, its

achievement continue to avoid or escape many who are poverty affected. Education has

perpetuated the circle of poverty, is most common in developing countries, particularly

in rural areas, although small number of poverty also exist in developed countries.

Extreme poor are denied access to education, poverty hinders learning in developing

countries through poor nutrition, health, home circumstances (lack of books, lighting or

place to do homework), access to education, quality, cost and inadequate resources for

education.

The government should take the key responsibility of identifying the poor and

making the poor to be known, so that every policy developed should be geared in

improving the life of the extreme poor. Thus, promotion of education by improving

educational performance is central in addressing the problems of moderate and extreme

poverty. Specifically, primary education is found to be very important in reducing

extreme poverty.

So let us take Poverty as a challenge, and let us pursue our education in such a

way that the breaking of the cycle of poverty will prevail. And most especially, let us

ask for God’s guidance in all our undertakings as a teacher to give hope to our students.

Submitted by: JANICE MAY E. RELAMPAGOS

MAED 102