Universal Primary Education in the Philippines by 2015: An Impossible Dream

Is universal primary education achievable by 2015? This paper addresses this question by weaving together key ideas from several materials: 1) the presentations at the NAST Roundtable Discussion (RTD) on the second Millennium Development Goal (MDG 2) held at Trader’s Hotel on 2 February 2010; 2) the papers and power point presentations submitted to the RTD organizers in preparation for the 32nd Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) of the National Academy of Science and Technology; and 3) other pertinent documents obtained from the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS), the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPJ); the World Bank (WB), the Human Development Network (HON) and the ADB/ESCAP/UNDP Asia Pacific assessment of the progress on the MDGs in light of the 2008 financial crisis. The sources of the threads woven in this synthesis arc listed at the end of the paper.