Philippine E-Journals

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Philippines: Education and Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Leandro S. Estadilla

 

Abstract:

In line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the current administration created the “10-point socio-economic agenda” (www.neda.gov.ph). It focuses on the development of the economy through the increase in the government expenditures and investment in human capital. With the continuing growth experienced in the economy, one of the sectors that should not be neglected is education. To investigate the efforts of the administration regarding education, using a panel of data gathered from the databank of World Bank, the researcher applied regression to determine the effect of inflation and unemployment to the country’s education enrolment as a measure of human capital. Further, to establish whether Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP real) and Education enrolment affects one another, Granger Causality was employed.The study revealed that inflation and unemployment are key factors to the primary and secondary education. With the increasing cost of education, and lack of available jobs in the market, people see the value of education as their main tool to surpass these economic dilemmas. Moreover, the GDP real is said to be the one causing the education enrollment (in both primary and secondary) in the country to change over time. The researcher suggests that in order to attain a higher number of students enrolled in the primary and secondary levels, a continuous increase in the allocation of budget from the country’s GDP must be done. The government should create new schools especially in far flung areas, invest in its human capital and find ways to create additional jobs for Filipinos.