Achieve Universal Primary Education: A Formidable Assignment
Lourdess Didith V. Mendoza
Institute on Church and Social Issues, Ateneo de Manila University
E-mail: intersec@admu.edu.ph
Reprinted from Intersect (vol. 19, no. 4) October-December 2004

This article assesses the developments in the education sector against the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of time bound goals agreed upon by leaders the world over. One of its goals aims to achieve universal primary education by ensuring that all school aged boys and girls complete basic education. The Philippines is committed to meet this goal by the year 2015.

To meet this goal, the Philippines has taken a number of measures which includes increasing the number of schools, giving more benefits to teachers and decreasing their workloads. These changes may seem positive, they do not fully address the needs of children. The government must seriously take its obligations and do its best to provide and ensure quality education for the children.