When it comes to improving a country’s overall state, the masses need to be as educated as possible. An uneducated population makes it difficult for a country to progress and leaves it vulnerable to political manipulation. The Philippines is a key example of this state. While the country is beautiful and the people are renowned for their kindness and hospitality, it is also rife with corruption and the disparity between the rich and poor grows larger by the day. One way to combat this inequality is education. An educated populace will gradually improve a nation’s overall state. However, the Philippines lacks a system for cultivating an educated population. Although the country has a basic literacy rate of more than 88.5%, more than 6 million people are still illiterate. Therefore, here are some Philippine nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that offer scholarships to the underprivileged.
TORM Philippines Education Foundation
The NGO was founded in 2007 and is devoted to promoting quality education to children from unprivileged families in the Philippines. Many rural families in the Philippines often struggle to send their children to school. Aside from low-income families, the organization also helps deserving individuals gain a college education. The organization has awarded more than 200 scholarships since its inception.
UPL
While the NGO mostly aims to help farmers in their agricultural endeavors and, in the process, provide millions of families with their daily sustenance, UPL also offers scholarship opportunities to grass-roots families. UPL predominantly offers scholarships to farming families. The scholarships are designed to enhance the farming family’s agricultural knowledge and allow them to cultivate the land more effectively and efficiently.
Project Pearls
Project Pearls is one of the Philippine NGOs predominantly aimed at feeding people experiencing poverty in the city of Tondo. While it is mostly devoted to funding feeding programs, it also has educational programs that aim to provide underprivileged children with a means of gaining education. The organization’s educational programs are predominantly aimed at teaching young people the right skills to gain jobs. These programs include livelihood programs, training seminars and workshops. The organization also provides underprivileged students with monetary help for school supplies. It has provided scholarships for more than 700 students in four communities in the Philippines.
Diwa ng Magdalo Foundation
The Diwa nang Magdalo Foundation was founded by a group known as Bagong Katipuneros. Its main goal is to promote better governance in the Philippines. The organization was first registered in 2011 and is meant to create a self-sufficient Philippines. To do so, the organization focuses mostly on the country’s youth.
Its main intent is to effect societal change and it has created various programs that help grassroots-level students meet their educational needs. A key function that the organization fulfills every year is the giving away of scholarships to unprivileged students. These scholars are usually sent to well-known colleges in the country, such as the University of the Philippines.
Aside from giving away free scholarships, the NGO is also focused on assisting its beneficiaries with financial aid and assistance during times of crisis.
Conclusion
The Philippines is a developing nation rife with corruption and poverty and many families cannot afford to send their children to school for a meaningful education. Through these Philippine NGOs, children from impoverished families are now able to attend high school and even gain a college education.
– Neil Lorenz Misola
Neil is based in New York, NY, USA and focuses on World News and Politics for The Borgen Project.
