Question

did the martial law improve the quality of educational system in the Philippines. Why?

Answer 1

In 1969, Ferdinand Macros set up a commission to survey Philippine education guided with the belief that the economic and social survival of development of the nation was dependent on education. In 1972, through his New Society project, he declared that education must be transformed so that it can become an instrument for the economic and social transformation of the country. It was also the first time that a long term plan (10 years) was formulated for the education system. Upon the declaration of Martial Law in 1972, schools were designated as the vital agency in achieving the desired reform in the New Society in which human resource development was linked to economic growth . But all these reforms resulted in education servicing the only growing sector of the economy i.e. the export sector and it led to the export of workers.

This, in the long term led to labor skills mismatch and graduate unemployment as education focused only to improve the export sector. But export sector is itself is dependent on the rest of world. If there is slowdown in the world economy, then export sector will suffer and thus making the graduates (skilled in export related goods and services) unemployed.

Thus, martial rule may have benefited education in the short run by benefiting the export sector, but in the long run, it has created labor skills mismatch and graduate unemployment in Philippines.