𝐒𝐎𝐘𝐀 ‘𝟐𝟓 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐨 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐬

Gathering youth across academic institutions, student organizations, and community councils, Rise for Education Davao (R4E) launched its fourth State of the Youth Address (SOYA) at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, July 19.

At the forefront was the continuation of its landmark research, “Nescience II: Evaluating Accessibility, Quality, and Democratic Principles in Davao City’s Education System,” which covers both public and private schools.

Presenter Roziel Saguin defined the three indicators and reported the preliminary findings.

“This [study] also includes further elevating the need for a nationalistic, scientific, and mass-oriented education where education serves that capital, the people,” Saguin said.

Accessibility was bounded by financial instability, logistical issues, LGBTQ+ discrimination, and lacking inclusivity for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) among others, while the democracy marker noted repressive policies and peaceful protests in the student population.

On the other hand, the quality indicator revealed that a satisfaction of 84% of the sample population is most attributed to higher tuition fees.

Renee Co, Kabataan partylist representative, also spoke about the demands for an alternative people’s education in which she stated that while the youth possess admirable qualities, they require effort in mobilizing given multiple sub-sectors.

“The ongoing challenge for all of us actually is when we talk about nation-building, anong direksyon gusto ba natin dalhin ang pag-develop ng sarili nating bansa?” Co posed.

(The ongoing challenge for all of us actually is when we talk about nation-building, in what direction do we want to take our own country’s development?)

Attendee Princess Elizabeth Banzon from San Pedro College’s National Service Reserve Corps (SPC-NSRC) uplifted their education initiatives such as Project Basa, Veritas Library with the Dominican Network (Domnet) Youth Group, and Project BIRCHES with the Speech Society.

“Daghan ug data mi pud nakuha actually, [example] na daghan Out of School Youth, and actually gusto pud nako na iintegrate samong program,” Banzon shared.

(We gleaned a lot of data, for example that there are numerous Out of School Youth, that I actually want to integrate in our program.)

SPC-NSRC was accompanied by Volunteer Service Provider (VSP) and their respective moderators, Ellen Aloba and Remark Mortalla.

Meanwhile, Daniela Kuizon from Ateneo De Davao University (AdDU) said that awareness is the first step in informing others about the education crisis.

“Ang mga organizations hindi naman sila nacrecreate kung walang definitive manifestations … there is a necessity for these organizations and groups, and therefore [its birth],” R4E’s Allena Sofia de Castro supported.

(Organizations cannot be created without definitive manifestations … there is a necessity for these organizations and groups, and therefore its birth.)

Rain Jem De Asis, a graduate from University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP) and regular participant of SOYA, encouraged students from her university to become involved in youth issues and advocacies.

SOYA 2025 is a collaboration with Davao’s College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) for publications and National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) primarily for student councils.

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