Unraveling Social Epidemia through the lens of Public Education in the Philippines

Public education in the Philippines is ‘free’ and adopts a K-12 curriculum that is well-aligned with neoliberal global trend. These two aspects of public education speak not only the kind of education young Filipino students will receive, but also mirror the social ills the country is facing. First, I explore the concept of ‘free’ and the quality that comes with it. I then argue that free education and its low quality created space for private entities, which the rich and capable social class overly exploit leading to unequal opportunities, exclusion and faction among groups of people. Second, I argue that because of the misleading motivation behind K-12 curriculum, to address the needs of the global market and exporting its graduates, the country is now at risk of brain drain and puts its democratic citizenship and the construction of Filipino identity on the brink of obsolescence. I label these social ills as social epidemia because of its widespread occurrence in nature, just like an infection, which causes threat and harm to the society and its people.