Deferred Dreams and Heavy Burdens
Issue 14 — Key Developments Across the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam
Editor’s Note
by Nabil Haskanbancha, in Bangkok
Different contexts, same underlying challenge: whether in disaster response, classrooms, or lecture halls, systems only succeed when they are people-centered and effectively meet real needs. In Vietnam, the new school year is clouded by rising tuition fees, leaving families in rural provinces questioning whether higher education is slipping out of reach. In the Philippines, disasters are not only about broken homes or flooded streets. For many women, they also bring hidden battles, such as mental health struggles and the risk of violence in evacuation centers. And in Singapore, Teachers’ Day offers a moment to reflect on how much we ask of our educators, who are expected to guide students through change while also caring for themselves. This week’s stories remind us that lasting reforms must be inclusive and designed to benefit all groups, ensuring that no one is left behind.
Vietnam 🇻🇳
The Price of Knowledge
by Takeshi
For numerous families across Vietnam, the beginning of September brings the excitement of a new academic year, yet this anticipation is increasingly overshadowed by anxiety over looming financial pressures. As public universities implement government-mandated autonomy, they are freeing themselves from state bureaucracy and becoming more operationally nimble to the changing tunes of the 21st century. However, this autonomy also requires greater financial self-reliance, as the state withdraws from its traditional role as a primary funder. The outcome has been a sharp rise in college costs, between 8 to 15 per cent annually since 2019, when the policy was first introduced. This major change has sparked a national debate about higher education access and the significant consequences it entails.
The policy of university autonomy, outlined in government decrees as Decree 99/2019/NĐ-CP, was born of a noble ambition: to foster academic excellence by enabling institutions to attract top-tier lecturers, upgrade facilities, and compete on a global stage. However, as state subsidies have dried up, universities seeking to enhance their academic and physical capacities to keep pace with the rapidly evolving landscape of higher education have been forced to raise tuition as an inevitable response.
On the ground, however, this logic is cold comfort to many. For a farming family in the Mekong Delta or a factory worker in a northern province, tuition costs ranging from US$2,000 to US$4,000 per year for public universities constitute a significant financial barrier, often outstripping their entire annual income. The state's student loan program, while helpful, offers only a fragile lifeline. The maximum loan amount, last increased to a maximum of US$150 in 2022, falls short of covering tuition, let alone the prohibitively high cost of living in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s twin higher education centres. Families are left to cover education fees by relying on high-interest informal loans, selling assets, or watching their children’s ambitions wither.
This trend risks cleaving Vietnam's society along educational lines, deepening social divisions in the process. While the children of the urban affluent can afford premier public university education, no less talented students from rural and low-income backgrounds may be forced to abandon the pursuit altogether. Such disparities could undermine Vietnam’s national goal of building a high-skilled workforce to drive its next phase of economic development, where labour-intensive production gives way to much more emphasis on technical knowledge.
Vietnam’s predicament is far from unique; it is a dilemma echoing across ASEAN as member states are grappling with widening education access gaps stemming from socio-economic divisions. As ASEAN moves forward towards an integrated, knowledge-based economy, Vietnam’s struggle stands as a critical case study on the profound consequences of a reduced state role in university funding.
Takeshi is an external contributor writing this week’s piece on Vietnam.
The Philippines 🇵🇭
The Silent Wounds of Disaster
by Arianne De Guzman, in Bulacan
When disasters strike communities, news headlines often focus on physical damage like ruined homes and flooded streets. But behind such images lie the struggles of women, whose mental health is rarely given priority.
The Philippines is one of the countries most prone to typhoons, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes due to its geographical location along the Pacific Ring of Fire. For the past 16 years, it has consistently ranked as one of the highest among 193 nations in the World Risk Index. While resilience and disaster governance have been studied extensively, their intersection with gender remains understudied. Understanding women’s vulnerability in times of natural disasters is key, as pre-existing gender dynamics and social structures exacerbate their risks. Evidently, research shows that the mortality rate of women is higher compared to men because of discrimination and marginalization during natural disasters.
Gender relationships often impose cultural constraints on women’s mobility. During floods, for example, most women cannot swim or climb, as these skills are traditionally taught to men. Beyond survival, the psychological toll is immense. Women experience higher stress levels as they are expected to manage multiple responsibilities, while also caring for themselves, their children, and other family members. The burden is particularly severe for pregnant and lactating women, who require medical attention, maternal hygiene kits, and immediate post-delivery care – resources that are often unavailable during natural disasters. In 2022, Typhoon Odette destroyed medical facilities, which affected 98,000 pregnant women in typhoon-affected areas, of which 24,000 are at risk of obstetric complications. Reports of miscarriages and premature deliveries underscore how disaster-related stress translates into life-threatening consequences.
Women also experience what experts call a “double disaster”: the heightened threat of gender violence during post-disaster situations. In 2014, a six-year-old was raped by a distant relative in an evacuation center in Zamboanga City. Meanwhile, in Tacloban, a month after the Super Typhoon Yolanda, a child narrowly escaped rape in a crowded evacuation center during a power outage. According to the International Organization of Migration, the Philippine evacuation center facilities lack women-friendly spaces, exposing both women and children to gender-based violence and healthcare issues.
This is not just a Philippine problem but a regional one. A thematic study conducted by the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) found that women’s mental health across the Southeast Asia Region is not yet fully integrated into regional disaster response policies and practices. As the monsoon season deepens and Suicide Prevention Month is observed, the message is clear both for the Philippines and ASEAN: protecting women’s mental health during natural disasters requires a multidimensional approach, which involves medical and psychosocial care, social protection, and cultural understanding.
Arianne has worked in legal research at the Philippines Department of Justice and in policy research at De La Salle University’s Jesse M. Robredo Institute of Governance, supporting projects on systemic reform. She holds a degree in Political Science from Colegio de San Juan de Letran and is pursuing a master’s in Sociology at the University of the Philippines Diliman. She is also involved in youth development and grassroots advocacy through the Rotaract Club of Santa Maria.
Singapore 🇸🇬
The Adaptation of Singapore’s Classrooms in a World of Change
by Nurul Aini, in Singapore
Teachers are the backbone of society, whose physical and psychological well-being is essential in shaping and driving the education system. In fact, a national system of education can be considered lacking if policies do not ensure sufficient educational or upskilling opportunities, and mental health resources across gender, class, race, and religion for both learners and teachers. In turn, teachers’ actions influence students’ development and discipline, underpinning a huge responsibility towards the latter. In light of Teachers’ Day on 5 September 2025 in Singapore, it’s worth examining how Singapore’s education system, and by extension ASEAN’s, is evolving to meet the needs of teachers and students to keep up with a changing world and contribute to a stronger society.
Former Education Minister Chan Chun Sing stressed the importance of managing teachers’ expectations, while also underscoring the need to give them time and space to diversify their skills. In response, the Ministry of Education has since sought to ease workloads by streamlining processes and strengthening partnerships with parents.
In June 2025, a Parenting for Wellness website was launched to encourage resource exchange between teachers and parents on developing healthy parent-child relationships and maintaining children’s resilience amidst matters such as academic anxiety. This effort suggests that the improvement of a child’s education (both formal and informal) begins and is continually expanded from home, before being further developed in schools. In July 2025, MOE announced that more than 1000 teachers will be hired annually, an increase of 300 from previous annual recruitment levels, indicating a step towards building an even stronger teacher workforce.
From 2026, schools will be able to decide whether to continue the Applied Learning Programme (ALP) and the Learning for Life Programme (LLP) as separate initiatives. Both programmes foster experiential learning by connecting knowledge to real-life situations, while also encouraging social responsibility, sportsmanship, and an appreciation of the arts. In 2027, the ‘N’ and ‘O’ Level examination periods will be merged, cutting administrative workload by 15 percent, or roughly 5,000 man-days. These adjustments, though modest in scale, reflect the principle that small changes can trigger ripple effects leading to broader systemic reform.
In an era of constant change, teachers play an ever more crucial role in shaping the next generation of responsible and impactful leaders. In ASEAN, countries such as Thailand have introduced policies like “Happy Learning,” which seeks to ease the burden on both students and teachers. In Malaysia, the Education Blueprint (2013–2025) has entered its third phase (2021–2025), focused on further improving school management and programme delivery.
Teachers stand in a space of liminality: not quite parents to their students, yet far more than simple conveyors of knowledge. They are generalists, constantly adapting and applying pedagogical practices to suit the needs of their context, while also shaping the character of future generations. As a Malay proverb reminds us, teachers are like candles that burn themselves to illuminate others- a calling that deserves not only recognition but profound respect and appreciation.
Aini is currently pursuing a master’s degree in English literature at Nanyang Technological University. She has experience working in youth groups, contributing to the planning and management of outreach activities.
Editorial Deadline 09/08/2025 11:59 PM (UTC +8)
