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After the diploma

Foremost, we would like to congratulate to the parents of class 2005.Indeed, you gave it your all, come hell or high water, to ensure that your children made it through college. And we commend those students too, who labored to make ends meet. It is not a simple thing to drag yourself to a 7 a.m. class after a night shift in a fastfood store. Or after you have stood for hours assisting customers, not really because there a lot of customers but because management forbids a rest station.

Parents send their children to school particularly to college hoping that later on a degree will land them economic security in the future. But today’s college graduate, like those several years ago, will find it hard to find a decent paying job in the country. If ever they do, the catch is its underemployment.

We wonder what guest speakers in graduation rites will say to the graduates this year. What does the government really have to offer? College education has never been easy. Various fee hikes have become government’s necessary step to beef up the measly education budget. Course curriculums are constantly tailored to adhere to globalization since the government has given its commitment to it. A nationalist, scientific and mass-oriented education is the appropriate alternative to existing educational system.

Debt servicing has become the priority of the national budget. For this year, P301.6 billion of the approved P907.5 billion budget has been allotted for debt servicing. So much for fueling basic social services. In 2004, only 30 centavos was allotted per day per Filipino for health services.

The economy is unable to absorb the large number of entrants to the labor market each year. Employment downtrend has increasingly taken its toll.

In 2001, the country’s labor force was reported at 31.85 million people. Of this figure, some three million were 15 to 19 years old, 4.1 million aged 20 to 24 years old, and some 7.5 million 25 to 34 years old. Here, we can see how the economy has forced school-aged Filipinos to chip in, instead, to the family budget to survive.

A recent University of the Philippines College of Medicine study reports that 65% of its graduates proceeded abroad after graduation. Every year, about 700,000 workers are laid off. Some 2,800 Filipinos go abroad everyday to seek employment. The influx of Filipinos abroad continues to fuel the brain drain situation in the country, the health sector being the most affected. We do not only lose our able graduates; other countries mock us in the face because they have decent-paying employment opportunities for them.

In 2004, 2,000 doctors left the country to become nurses, while 25,000 nurses left to work abroad. Some 4,000 doctors are currently enrolled in nursing courses this year.

The call center industry, the more popular labor market these days, hires an average of 1,500 individuals weekly. Again, brain drain. The requirements of an employment quest have become narrowed down to economic security. Our graduates too would like to put their undergraduate degrees to work. To apply it practically. The intellect’s hunger for knowledge and the constructive use of it is insatiable.

What amount of motivation will prompt our graduates to stay in the country when the greater problem of this economic crisis persists? Those who chose to stay and battle it out also deserve recognition. If not for personal reasons which are always a constant, there must be in them a deeper sense of commitment to this nation.

Joblessness definitely awaits 2005 graduates. We challenge the government to put an end to it. Make gradual, practical and workable solutions. True enough, President Gloria Arroyo is in the process of completing her promise of one million jobs. Still, a significant number of Filipinos seek greener pastures. Jobs are mostly contractual. The pay is insignificant compared to the daily cost of living. Retrenchment is massive. We need secure jobs and realistic wages. With proper employment opportunities here, we believe our graduates will stay and unleash their enthusiasm at building their dream of a future here. #

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