LIFE’S INSPIRATIONS: “…Train the child in the way that he should go and he will not depart from it even when he grows old…” (Proverbs 22:6, the Holy Bible).
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WHERE WILL THE MONEY FROM EDUCATION BUDGET CUTS GO? So, where will the Aquino government use the money that will result from the budget cuts and greatly decreased allocations for some 59 state universities and colleges in 2016?
I loath to think President Aquino and his loyal lieutenants in Congress, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Senate President Frank Drilon, would instead be using the money from the budget cuts for the 2016 elections to ensure the victory of their candidates, but, is there any other way to view their having greatly reduced the budget for the education of the Filipino youth?
As it is, many poor youngsters are already incapable of going even to government educational institutions, because of extreme poverty and unfavorable economic conditions. With the budget cuts for state colleges and universities ordered by Aquino and his cohorts, we could be sure there will be more out-of-school youths who will tread the path of despair, vice, and criminality, in 2016 and beyond.
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PNOY SHOULD LEARN FROM NINOY: Pardon me for using my own experience when I was struggling to get an education from the University of the Philippines in the early 1970s as an example, but, I could not have completed my AB Journalism course back then if I was not allowed to obtain student loans from UP’s Student Loan Board to pay for my tuition fees.
I do remember the fact that, semester after semester, I would invariably find myself at the Student Loan Board offices at the Wenceslao Vinzon’s Hall then, applying for a student loan, backed up by the unrelenting letter of guarantee from compassionate Prof. Tito Eustaquio, a province-mate from Tarlac who happened to have been the brother of the second wife of an uncle of mine.
President Aquino should perhaps be reminded that the setting up of the Student Loan Board at the University of the Philippines System was the result of the untiring efforts of his own father, the late Sen. Benigno Ninoy Aquino Jr. Because of this student loan system, many students from the provinces, the “promdis” like me, managed to complete their education.
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BUDGET CUTS VIOLATE THE BIBLE’S ADMONITION ON EDUCATING THE YOUTH: What is more, the slashing by President Aquino and his men of the 2016 budgets of state colleges and universities glaringly violate the Biblical injunction that we should ensure the education of our children, found in Proverbs 22:6, which says “train the child in the way that he should go, and he will never depart from it when he grows old.”
How can we ever hope to effectively train our children in the way that they should go when the very government that is supposed to uphold their education seems to be working hard to deprive them of that education, by making it hard for them to enter higher institutions of learning?
Maybe we should start acting in unison to remind our government leaders that it is the responsibility of the State, more than the responsibility of the family, to ensure that opportunities exist in our country for the education of our young. If we do not educate the youth properly, then they would cease becoming the hope of the Fatherland. Rather, they would become, as they have become by now, the despair of our countrymen.
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PLEASE LISTEN: “Ang Tanging Daan” (The Sole Way), a Bible study and prayer session on radio, airs Mondays to Fridays, 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., at DWAD 1098 kHz on the AM band. For replays, go to www.facebook.com/angtangingdaan or www.facebook.com/ANDKNK and scroll for “Ang Tanging Daan” broadcasts. Phone: 0922 833 43 96, 0918 574 0193, 0917 984 24 68. Email: batasmauricio@yahoo.com.
