A wakeup call

THE EDUCATION crisis started long before the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the World Bank assessment on education in the Philippines is not surprising especially because improving the quality of education for our youth has not been a priority of our government especially now as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect education. If only the government prioritized addressing the perennial problems of education and providing adequate funds for classrooms, learning materials, facilities like laboratories and libraries, better learning environment for the youth, and for substantial salary increase for teachers and education support personnel, then our youth could have received better quality education and would not have performed poorly in international assessments.

The World Bank report and the results of three international assessments that Filipino students recently took part in which included the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the 2019 Regional Report of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics  should be a wakeup call for the Department of Education.

DepEd’s policies immensely impacts teachers and students’ performance. Among the outputs of DepEd’s so-called education reform is curriculum congestion, which compromises adequate teaching time and students’ deeper understanding. Blended learning scheme may have made matters worse.

The World Bank noted that more than 80% of Filipino children do not know what they should know, with their poor performance deeply rooted in limited proficiency in the languages in which schooling takes place.

The results of these international assessments raise questions on the K to 12 system. Did it enhance the quality of basic education? Some teachers say the K to 12 curriculum implements the “chopsuey method” where teachers are forced to teach a little of everything is ineffective in attaining a mastery of skills in Math and Science. Isn’t the mastery of basic, essential and relevant skills in Math and Science more important than just learning small things of everything?

Also, class sizes are large. Classrooms are lacking. Books and modules are inadequate. There are no gadgets or internet access. Children are hungry. There is too much extra teacher workload. How can we expect our youth to perform in assessment tests if the government continues to turn a blind eye on the perennial problems of shortages in the basic education system?