Is Poverty A Barrier to Quality Education?

Abstract

The paper looks into linkages between poverty and access to quality education at the basic education level. The published results of the National Achievement Test in 2009 were used as basis for analyzing these linkages. Analysis revealed that poverty stricken areas host both the top performing and worst performing schools. However, most of the worst performing schools had large class sizes and were situated in conflict areas in the country. Path analysis further confirmed the fact that income-deprivation (poverty) leads to high drop-out rates (or absenteeism) which in turn lead to poor learning at the basic education level. As to the issue at hand, poverty per se does not imply poor quality education but it does directly impact on factors that lead to poor educational outcomes. Reduction in class sizes is one of the four policy reforms that need to be seriously considered in the Philippine context.