Abstract:

The emerging school drop-out patterns of boys growing up in poverty is a growing area of concern not only in the Philippines but also in the U.S. and the rest of the world (Tyre 2008; Martino and Pallota-Chiarolli 2003; Pollack 1998). It should be emphasized that this problem has been glossed over for years perhaps because the recognized global problem is that boys outperform girls in many other countries. It needs to be pointed out that in the Philippines boys are being outperformed by the girls and has been going on for quite some time. However, reliable regional data is needed to draw an accurate picture of the domestic scenario in the Philippines.

Given that poverty issues are complicated by emerging gender issues, this study aimed to answer the following questions.
- What primary factors push-pull boys away from schools in the Philippines?
- Do poor rather than non-poor boys have a preponderance for not attending school?
- How does not attending school among boys impact on society?

This study used data coming from the 2008 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS), a nationally representative survey conducted by the National Statistics Office from January to June 2008. The APIS provided non-income indicators related to poverty at the national and regional levels. The APIS has a summarized version of income and expenditure items that provides some comparison of social indicators across regions, albeit roughly on the prevalence of poverty, depth of poverty and the severity of poverty.
The study revealed that in the Philippines, the most popular reason was the lack of personal interest among males in the lowest 30% income stratum. The same is true in fourteen other regions in the country. Poor males in NCR and Central Luzon, likewise reasoned that the high cost of education was their primary reason for not being in school during the survey period. The one-way ANOVA for reason for not attending school versus income stratum that combines the lowest 30% and highest 70% income strata and reasons versus location which cover the 17 administrative regions of the Philippines. The following reasons were not significantly different to income stratum: (5) illness/disability; (6) housekeeping; (7) marriage; (13) problem with birth certificate; and (15) unspecified others. This means that among the poor and the non-poor, the ten other remaining reasons showed significant correlation to household income levels.
In the Philippines, lack of personal interest is clearly the predominant reason between poor and non-poor males that independently or simultaneously with other factors push-pull them from school. There is also the preponderance of economic reasons for leaving school – high cost of education and employment or looking for work. Poor rather than non-poor boys have a preponderance for not attending school in terms of magnitude and coverage of their reasons. Clearly, boys not attending school will impact on society.
The generally held assumption that gender equality can be expected to promote economic growth may take on a fresh perspective. Empirical evidence gathered point to different societal manifestations of shifting gender parity conditions that may impact on poor males. Thus, the African proverb about educated girls educating a family and the whole nation remains intuitively appealing until evidence from other countries that boys when pushed-pulled from school cause trouble is established and confirmed.

Keywords:

School-leaving, poverty, boys, gender parity, Philippines.