UN General Assembly
2019

Whatever the phraseology adopted to express them, those aspirations are not captured by measuring poverty based solely on income per capita. To truly gauge the progress of our strategies, we have to stop reporting the wrong metric. That is why we have begun to use the Multidimensional Poverty Index. Education is how people lift themselves out of poverty. It does not happen by itself. Philosophers are poor. Charity and social programmes are how we, as individuals and Governments, lift them out faster. Even more Filipinos received basic education this year, with over 27 million enrolled. Over 600,000 out-of-school youth and adult learners are benefiting from an alternative learning system. Tuition is free in State-run colleges, universities and technical and vocational institutions, at both the national and local levels. Tuition is tightly controlled in private institutions.