WE ARE not hearing very much from government sources and elsewhere about the achievements, or lack thereof, in the education sector.
My belief is that the scholastic year 2022-2023 is not producing the exciting results that we might associate with return to school classes.
International comparisons regularly show Philippine students to lack achievement compared with students from other countries. In the parlance of school reports: ‘could do better’ would be appropriate.
We would welcome a progress report from Vice President and Secretary of Education Sara Duterte. This should identify whether or not we have reached pre-pandemic results.
I hope that there will be rigorous, nationwide examinations at all grade levels in Math, Science, and English to be conducted in April 2023. These examinations should establish the extent of the lack of progress due to COVID-19, and therefore identify remedial actions that should be implemented from SY 2023-2024.
BBM’s recent travels have, I believe, engendered generally friendlier relationships with other countries. Perhaps, as a result, we could see more projects involving overseas educators facilitating beneficial activities with Filipino students. Canada comes to mind as a country which could establish a cohesive relationship with our school system.
For the past five years, the United States government’s reading program in the Philippines has benefitted over 30,000 Filipino students in various schools nationwide. This project, entitled ‘All Children Reading Philippines Project’ implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with our Department of Education (DepEd) should now, hopefully, be carried out in more schools here.
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I believe the DepEd’s Alternative Learning System (ALS) could be expanded to include many more students. ALS is a system which gives a second chance to mature students who, for many reasons, did not realize their full potential when they first attended school.
Publicity would be helpful. Many who could benefit are not aware of ALS’ existence. Data which provides the number of students who have benefitted from ALS would be appreciated. Success stories could inspire adult students to follow the ALS route.
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The relationship between our education system and the world of work could be improved. Employers have not shown unfettered enthusiasm with our K-12 graduates. This is an aspect that our educators should examine closely. What are the issues? What can be done to improve matters? Are there courses of action that can be addressed by our K-12 system which could ensure that our graduates become more employable?
We would like to see evidence that this is a live issue taken seriously but our DepEd management./PN
