Distance Education in the Philippines

My mother always reminds me how important education is. During the time when I was still in college, I use to take those words for granted. I was headstrong then, I still am, but I know better now. It is only recently that I fully appreciated those words. It’s good she never gave up on me when all I want to do is get out of school and be free. I realize now, how big a mistake that could have been.

Education is valuable. A good education could feed you for a thousand lifetimes, that’s what other people say. I guess I have to agree. Ten years ago, if you want to earn a decent income and would like to work sitting down in an office chair, then you have to have a college degree. If not, you have to settle for a work that requires you to knock on doors or carry things or sell or help on stores, etc. These are not bad jobs. In fact I admire people doing these jobs. It shows us that Filipinos, despite its difficulties most of the time and lack of opportunities, are not indolent. But a high school diploma ten years ago would not allow you to have an office table. Thanks to the call center industry, since most centers accept under graduates, that the employment opportunities for university undergraduates are a lot better now.

A lot of High school graduates and undergraduates are now working in call centers where the pay is competitive, where the benefits are good, the workplace is posh and allow them to have their own cubicle. In fact most of them are actually receiving better wages than a normal office day job. I remember Biboy, a former colleague who earns an awesome Php 30,000 every month from commissions alone. He said he could keep his basic pay intact and have it deposited on his bank account for the education of his children. He is earning really well. One time while we are on an early morning drinking session, I ask him, “if you have 100 pesos and you could use it to buy anything in the world, I mean anything at all, what would you buy?” he stared at the passing buses along EDSA deep in his thoughts, then he looked back at me and said “A college degree, one that comes with a real college diploma” everyone in the group stopped talking, I just smiled.

Good paying jobs are great, but a college diploma hanging on your walls brings a different kind of satisfaction. I asked Biboy what’s stopping him from going to school and he said, he no longer have the time. He works at night, tend to his kids in the morning and have to sleep in the afternoon. “Being a parent is full time job with no furloughs and no day-offs” he quipped during our lunch break once. Parents in the group just nodded in agreement.

The other day, I stumbled upon a story about Distance Education. Distance education according toWikipedia is:

a process to create and provide access to learning when the source of information and the learners are separated by time and distance, or both. In other words, distance learning is the process of creating an educational experience of equal qualitative value for the learner to best suit their needs outside the classroom. Rather than attending courses in person, teachers and students may communicate at times of their own choosing by exchanging printed or electronic media, or through technology that allows them to communicate in real time and through other online ways”

Online University or Distance Learning could really work for Biboy and the thousands of employees who doesn’t have the all the time in the world to earn a college degree or a certificate, and a diploma on the wall. Researching further, I found six open and distance learning schools in the Philippines that offersDegree courses, Post Baccalaureate degrees, Graduate Programs and non-formal courses.