Equity in Education in the Philippines is not usually given attention and solution by the government. This petition aims to raise awareness about educational equity:  

Equity in education is when every student receives the resources needed to acquire the basic work skills of reading, writing and simple arithmetic. It measures educational success in society by its outcome, not the resources poured into it.

Equity becomes more challenging when schools close their doors and teachers try to serve students online or by telephone calls and care-packages delivered to their doors. For one thing, the total amount of instructional time is likely to plummet, making time a scarce resource that is hard to allocate fairly. 

Some students have excellent WiFi and hardware at home, and their parents can help them use these tools. Other households get online through a parent's cell phone or not at all. Some households are equipped with office supplies and art materials and clean and quiet places to work; some have none of these assets. 

Some parents know the material that the school is trying to teach; others do not. Some have the time, capacity, and commitment to be deeply involved in their own children’s education during the pandemic. Other adults are barely managing or are perhaps unwilling to help. 

In considering these disparities, we should avoid stereotypes. In an affluent, highly-educated household, the adults might be so busy that they cannot support their cahildren as well as working-class parents who were laid off and receiving unemployment benefits. In a family where the adults do not know the school’s curriculum—and perhaps do not understand English—the pandemic could be a powerful opportunity to impart their own cultural traditions and knowledge. Meanwhile, the disease distributes crippling pain in unexpected ways, striking the privileged as well as the poor. Nevertheless, it is a safe assumption that—overall—students who have more social and economic resources in their homes will weather school closures better than economically precarious students. 

Inequity in education slows economic growth as much as recessions. Students that don’t receive the educational resources they need can’t perform at their optimal level. They don’t earn as much, can’t build wealth, and therefore can’t afford to send their children to good schools. This continues a cycle of structural inequality that hurts society as a whole. Equity in education is not the same as an equal education. Equity is necessary for economic mobility.

Ideally, providing an equitable education would be a society’s responsibility and would not fall solely on beleaguered teachers in unequal circumstances.

EQUITY Sa Edukasyon Ating Isulong! 

www.thebalance.com

https://www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/educational-equity-during-pandemic