There's More on Being a Youth

               “Youths are the future of the nation.”

                These were the words of Dr. Jose Rizal for the Filipino youths. We are said to be the savior of the nation from the tribulations of the country. Apparently, youths of today’s generation seemed to be the cause of these tribulations. Wherever you go, you can see out of school youths engaging on drug addiction, rubbery and other evil doings. Adding to it the increasing number of youth workers in the country. Why are these things happening? How can we become the future of the countrymen when we seemed to lose our paths?

                Last July 3, 2013, during our Youth Sector Orientation of our NSTP, a video was shown to us. That was all about the slow increase of Filipinos minimum wage in every Presidential term. According to the video, during the time of Pres. Corazon Aquino, there was an eighty-eight pesos increase to the minimum wage. During Pres. Gloria Aquino’s term, it only increased into five pesos. While today’s President, Pres. Noynoy Aquino, added nothing to the minimum wage of many Filipino workers. This is how unfortunate our country today. The rich become richer, the poor become poorer. This affects to the development of the youths. Minimum earner workers can’t send their children in school due to their little earnings.

                There was another video that was shown to us. The video was all about the demolition of houses in San Juan, Mania. I could really see how desperate they were in protecting their houses from the demolition team. People were shouting, children were crying and others were trying to fight against the police officers. It was really hard to watch your brothers and sisters suffer those pain. This is also one factor of the increasing number of out of school youths in the country. Their family can’t afford to build their own houses, how much more sending them to school for straight 14 years. And if they have money, of course they will prioritize building their houses than sending their in school.

                We also listened to a song about high rate of school fees in the public schools in the country. Many of the Filipino youths were not able to continue their studies in college or even in high school because of the high school fees. For these reasons, a lot of students are now against the government. A video of rallies was also shown to us. Students were having their rallies in front of the government to show the pain their suffering due to unaffordable and increasing tuition fees. Unfortunately, these were just put into vain. Still the government is in deaf mode in educational issues.

                What is the government doing? Why can’t they increase the minimum wage of the workers? Why can’t they give houses to those who don’t have? Why can’t they lower the tuition fees in State Universities in the country so that many can go to school? I understand that the government is also facing a lot of problems in the country. Not just all that I have mentioned. But these were not new anymore. We’ve been fighting for these problems ever since the world began. And still, it remained unanswered over the years.

                After the seminar, I had opened my eyes to the reality of country’s situation. I had developed values like diligence, perseverance and humility. I know I can’t change the world by just writing this article. But I believe that everything begins from a simple dot. I will be that simple dot that will make up everything. If we, the Filipino youths, will help each other, we can achieve the goal we’ve been aiming for a long time. We will show the whole world that we are truly the future of the nation.