There was the news about a kid having had to borrow the smart cellphone of his neighbor so he could avail of the virtual lessons and assignments from his school. And how about the internet load for the cellphone? One whose family could not afford a smart phone for a kid to continue his education during this pandemic might be hard-up also in buying load for that phone.
There was also that news about the penchant of teachers now to give a lot of assignments. Perhaps due to the fact that they don’t have to explain every item to the students or they are banking on the assumption that with the volume of homework, the students would somehow absorb the lessons they should absorb at a given time. Even assuming that the students are conscientious in their studies, such would need extended use of the internet which is expensive. It is very problematic for students who have to rely on borrowed cellphones or computers, or those who have to rent these.
There are no government measures to deal with such problems which only arose now. There was the proposal to use government equipment to be stationed in barangay halls, but that is a pie in the sky. The barangay halls would be overwhelmed and whatever equipment or gadgets there for the purpose would overheat and get fried due to overuse.
It all sums up to the poverty of the general populace. There are a lot of the usual reasons why, the usual motherhood statements, but nothing really to address the root cause in this country.
There was never any counter-argument to what everybody is saying that this country is rich. Then they follow it up by saying that we lack foreign investments and we have a low level of technology.
But look at the tycoons in our midst. They are investing a lot abroad on technology driven businesses. One company even put up in Vietnam a technological design center. Others are plowing their money in other countries with nary a care about the gaping mouth of this country, hungry for investments.
Then there is that eternal problem of inequitable distribution of the nation’s wealth– it being concentrated in the hands of a few families. This has been mouthed by us and by so many others since time immemorial but no appreciable effort to meaningfully address it in the short term or in the long term.
So we will continue to live with heartbreaking realities about the future of the younger generation. And that education, supposedly the great equalizer has now become the great perpetrator of injustice.**