Migration and education and vice versa

Dr. Ernesto D. Doloso Jr.

There were studies conducted by social scientists on Filipino migration both internal and external. The pervasive culture of migration has been very common, acceptable and desirable as options for better life. Since then, as early as 1906, hundreds of Filipinos left Philippines and searched for permanent settlement abroad or temporary work overseas. These Filipinos are either professionals or skilled (Asis, 2017). Migration flows, based on the study conducted by N. Jolipa in 1980, revealed that the primary cause of movement from rural to urban, from province to city, or from country to another country was economic reasons as also supported by the study conducted by Dr. Francis Peddie of Nagoya University in Japan. The study revealed that most of the residents in Laguna who opted to work in South Korea, Canada or Saudi Arabia wanted to help their families financially including, but not limited to, home renovation, siblings’ college education and families’ stable economic backbone.

In Singapore, most of the Filipinos, who were professionals and licensed holders of either nursing or education, worked as salesmen, cashier, or house helpers. Filipino students burned the candles at both ends just to survive and finish college education yet decided to work abroad and be assigned to a job that even an elementary graduate can perform. Most Filipinos swallowed their pride abroad just to support their families back home and just to send their siblings to good schools.

Filipinos value education with pride and dignity and that even graduates who are jobless still receive admirations from people as to those who are graduates of high school or college undergraduates and employed, regarded by many as unsuccessful. Filipinos value education yet Filipino professionals opted to work overseas with job title lower than their educational qualifications just to help their families.

The flow of migration and the search for better economic opportunities to developed countries will not end if the Philippine government will not stop corrupting the taxes of the people, loaning money from giant countries and continuing their ill and personal motives in holding a political position. Poverty will not end if government will not put optimum value and importance on education and employment. Remittances of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) will surely contribute to the Philippine economic development but in the hype of the economy, there are heartbreaks and pains from Filipinos who are sacrificing their freedom, happiness, and careers for their families because of lack of opportunities and employment in the country.

If education is one of the core weapons to fight poverty, then what happened to our professionals who worked abroad and returned to the Philippines either broke or dead?