The recent appointment of the new chancellor of the University of the Philippines Diliman has been disquieting for the academic community of students, faculty and staff in the country’s premier university, and the growing resentment against the selection process could turn into resistance to the administration of the new UP president, Angelo Jimenez. On April...
Category: Education
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Edsa 1: Democracy and disappointment
Feb. 22-25, 1986, were “four days that shook the world”—the words used by the late journalist and press secretary Teodoro C. Benigno to describe the history of the Edsa People Power Revolution that ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The peaceful revolt was the culmination of a pent-up desire to get rid of Marcos short of...
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Our lost racial pride
Time and again I say we Filipinos are a miseducated people. Our education works for the interest, glory and honor of foreigners, most especially the Americans. (Lost racial pride) Because of colonialism ours has been an educational system imported from America, in which we are shaped into the mold of miseducated Filipinos. We imbibe a foreign...
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Teachers’ lament: Gov’t’s ‘low appraisal’ is evident in their pay
The purchase by the Department of Education (DepEd) of pricey cameras has triggered a backlash from teachers grown hoarse from demanding a pay upgrade and increase. “If they have a budget for overpriced cameras and laptops, how come they don’t have a budget for our pay increase?” said Erlinda Alfonso, a teacher at the San...
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Nemenzo, candidate for UP president, receives outpouring of support
Of the six candidates seeking the presidency of the University of the Philippines, UP Diliman Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo has received an outpouring of support not only from students and faculty but also from national artists, scientists and academicians. Last week, 10 national artists and 53 UP professor emeriti signed a statement backing Nemenzo for fulfilling...
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Intellectual apartheid and UP’s decline in international university rankings
In the latest report by the Times Higher Education-World University Rankings (THE-WUR) for 2023, the University of the Philippines declined from its 2022 bracket of 601-800 to the 801-1000. This resulted in UP losing its top position among Philippine universities and being overtaken by Ateneo de Manila University, which placed in the 351-400 bracket. The...
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Offspring of veterans of the struggle recall martial law life and lessons
“I distinctly remember the letters our parents gave us, telling us how much they yearned to be with us, and that they look forward to the time that we can be together as a family… My parents did not impose their principles and belief on us, but rather gave us the freedom to discover for...
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Is it true that 90% of Filipino 10-year-olds can’t read?
In 2019, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) and the World Bank introduced the notion of a “learning poverty rate,” or the share of children who cannot read or comprehend a simple text at the age of 10. Figures that emerged before the coronavirus pandemic indicated that the average learning poverty rate...
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Live theater, digital interaction educate teens on drinking issue
Filipinos consume an average of seven liters of alcohol every year, according to the World Population Review. While that might appear manageable to many, the Philippine College of Physicians recently presented numbers sufficient to give Filipino parents a nightmare: About 70% of students had their first taste of alcohol at age 14, and many of...
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Agrava reports didn’t answer question of why Ninoy Aquino was killed
Editor’s note: Former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was shot dead on Aug. 21, 1983, upon arriving from exile in the United States at the airport now named after him. Fourteen months later, a fact-finding board assigned by President Ferdinand Marcos to look into the assassination submitted two reports—one by its chair and the other...