LEMERY, Batangas—To address the concerns of the country's out-of-school youth, aspiring president Vice President Leni Robredo will adopt a more personalized approach by knowing their problems.

“Dapat alam natin bakit hindi nag-aaral kasi iba iba yung dahilan (We should know their reasons because there are different reasons),” Robredo told her supporters when asked about various social issues in her campaign rally on Saturday here.

Among the reasons that Robredo cited was poverty, particularly the lack of funds to afford the transport fares for going to school and for daily sustenance.

She then talked about her project in the Office of the Vice President that provides free lodging to school children who cannot afford to commute.

Robredo said she would also look into those who are not interested in academics and give them opportunity to excel in technical-vocational skills.

“Dapat ‘yung hilig nila sa special skills nila, ‘yun ‘yung mata-tap natin (Their interest in their special skills should be the one we tap),” she said.

If elected president, Robredo said she will declare an education crisis as she lamented about the insufficient funding for education.

She also expressed concern about the skills and job mismatch among the graduates.

All these, Robredo said, puts the country behind others in terms of quality of education.

"Nakakahiya na tayo. Dati napakahusay ng kalidad ng ating edukasyon, pero bago pa man ang pandemya, yung mga international assessment bodies, lagi tayong last (We’re shameful. We used to have a high quality of education, but just before the pandemic, the international assessment bodies are already putting us in the last)," she said.

The reason for which, she said, was the government's low budget for education, which does not meet the standards of the United Nations.