I sat at the dinner table across from her. In front of me was a plate of food. In front of her were stacks of report cards, transcripts of records, and a basic calculator.

She was writing numbers by hand — 85, 89, 86 — filling in column after column. 

Twenty years in the service and she is still manually computing and transcribing grades — work she had been doing long before I learned how to read and write.

Traffic and ordinance violation fees can be paid online — as well as taxes that God only knows where they go — so why is a grade submission still not fully digitalized?

When corruption is discussed, all eyes turn to infrastructure, customs, internal revenue, and military procurement. But keep your eyes on the blackboard. Look at the classrooms.

Education receives the lion’s share of the national budget, as mandated. This year, it got  P1.34 trillion — the highest education budget in Philippine history. Education also carries the lion’s share of the people’s hopes, invested in the belief that it will build a better country.

When students struggle, people are quick to blame teachers. They say students are becoming dull, that education standards are declining. But few ask: what kind of system are teachers working under?

The DepEd should be investigated — its budget, its bidding system, its leadership.

How can a system teach children to reject corruption when it tolerates practices that have long existed within its own ranks?

This is in Parañaque, by the way, if anyone feels triggered.