Children

In 2016 children under the age of 14 made up approximately 32 per cent of the population of the Republic of the Philippines. According to UNESCO, the primary school-age participation rate was nearly 100 per cent in 2013. In 2008 the Government of the Philippines launched the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program, popularly known as the 4Ps, to alleviate the immediate needs of the poor and break the intergenerational poverty cycle through investment in human capital targeting children.

The Republic of Singapore has achieved a youth literacy rate of 100 per cent for both males and females and has reduced primary school dropout rates to less than 1 per cent. These results correlate with Singapore’s strong commitment to make primary education free and compulsory through the Compulsory Education Act passed in 2003. Through investments in universal primary education, Singapore aims to equip students with the necessary skills to be productive citizens in a knowledge-based economy.