The primary mission of the Foundation is to help uplift the standards of public school education in the country, with emphasis on the elementary school system, since a weak elementary school system will automatically result in weak junior and senior high school systems. 

• Only a well-educated and highly literate Filipino youth will provide the foundation for future global economic competitiveness 

• The standards of our public education system, which accounts for 90% of our students, has deteriorated markedly over several generations, as evidenced by our rock-bottom scores in international tests such as  OECD’s PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment, where in 2018, the country ranked lowest among 79 participating countries in reading, math and science for 15-year olds) or TIMMS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, where in 2019, the country ranked lowest among 58 participating countries in both math and science at the 4th grade level)

• Though our elite private schools can still compete at the world stage (note the country’s successes in successive math Olympiads), the gap between private schools and the public school system has widened considerably

The primary emphasis of the Foundation is on numeracy, since strong mathematics skills will be instrumental in attaining the levels reached by our neighbors China, Korea, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan.

Math is also the foundation of a strong STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) academic track, and the country clearly needs to have so many more students enrolled in STEM courses if it is to become a 21st century competitor on the global stage.

A secondary emphasis is on English literacy, another casualty of the poor standards in the public schools. Being fully literate enables students to understand academic materials, and facilitates learning through books, research and online resources, where much of the world’s information is in English. Also, English literacy across a wide percentage of the young population will help keep the country’s edge in the labor export market as well as in the BPO and call center sectors, currently the country’s largest workforce.


Jaime del Rosario, President & Chairman
One Small Step Forward Foundation, Inc.