When things get rough, the children are always the first victims

About 52 million Filipinos will be out of job by 2030 according to the report released by the Asian Development Bank.

In countries like in the Philippines, when economic hardships strike, among the first victims are the children. They have to drop school and many of them will end up as street children. Ignorance and lack of education are root causes of poverty.

The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) commit to achieve universal primary education by 2015; that is four years away from now and we are still far from the target. The fact sheet provides a good overview on why it is important that boys and girls should go to school.

According to the UNDP better education is fundamental to the prospects for economic and social development and the end of world poverty. If millions of children do not acquire education today, we are faced with a future generation with millions of people without basic skills and knowledge to be enable them to contribute productively to the social and economic well-being of the nation.

Unfortunately, despite the call of the United Nations, many governments including the Philippines lack the political will to address the acute issue related to education. Millions of poor families have already hard time to send their children to acquire primary education all the more they cannot support high school and college education widening the gap between the rich and the poor.

There is a need to invest on education. Those who can afford should try to support even one child at a time wherever they are and ensure that no one is left behind.