Education-Inequality Trap: State Contributions to the Vicious Cycle

The education-inequality connection is not only apparent but very strong in the Philippines where discussions of inequality, usually in household incomes, almost always never fail to mention the role education plays in maintaining the wide gap among Filipinos. Conversely, this gap accounts for most of the inequalities in education. If the potential of education to increase incomes and allow access to higher-earning sectors of the economy is limited by one’s social standing, the marginalized will remain marginalized, while the dominant and rich fortify their position. Thus, inequalities and education—access to it and its outcomes—form a trap that leads to the reproduction of initial inequalities.

Intervening in this vicious cycle is government. It has a no-tuition policy for basic education levels and operates more than a hundred state universities and colleges. On top of these, it regulates and sets the standards for the whole education sector. Thus, government policies and programs have the potential to define the possible connections between education and initial inequalities.

In this paper, state actions or inactions that strengthen the education-inequality trap are identified through the examination of public policies that impact the education sector in the Philippines. To provide context to the state’s role, this paper also presents the education inequality situation and evidence of the education-inequality connection in the country. This investigation of the different paths through which the state actually prevents some sectors of the population from fully enjoying their right to quality education can aid in understanding the complexity of the policy, political, economic, social and historical environment facing the millennium challenge of “education for all.” Viewing high inequality negatively as it not only impedes growth but also restricts people’s exercise of their freedoms, the paper also attempts to partake in the discourse of inequality/ies and its relation to development.