THERE are thousands of bright and high-achieving Filipino students, to the point that special schools have been established to develop their knowledge and talents, equip them with the skills that would help land them a good job, and contribute to the development of the nation.
Filipino students are naturally good and intelligent, and the Philippines could attain greater moral and educational standards and offer better employment if these students could have opportunities to access high-quality education that is their right but is available to only too few people.
The quality of teaching in Philippine education is at a new low because of the huge number of students crammed into small, badly ventilated and poorly lighted classrooms. There are 50 students per classroom on average, and they suffer from the lack of quality school buildings and educational facilities.
The failure in attaining high educational standards is due to ineffective teaching by unmotivated and underpaid teachers. There is a serious lack of highly skilled teachers who are knowledgeable about the content of their subjects and capable of motivating students to reach higher standards and achieve more.
Many teachers are frequently absent and suffer no consequences for it. Others are focused on illegal fundraising from students and parents. The Department of Education is also severely underfunded, and this is seen in the dire results of some studies.
According to a 2019 World Bank report, as many as 90 percent of Filipino students are unable to reach a minimum proficiency level at the end of their elementary education, as shown by data from Grade 5 students in the report.
In another report, the Program for International Student Assessment indicated that Filipino students have consistently performed poorly, with low rankings in reading comprehension, mathematics and science. They seriously lacked āskills like reading, writing, numeracy and problem-solving,ā it said. The research shows that about 91 percent of Filipino children cannot understand simple texts by the time they reach 10 years old.
Just how low the Philippine educational system ranks?
Out of the 139 countries ranked by the Global Competitiveness Report for education, the Philippines is No. 69, and its placement is sinking lower year after year. It is now rated the lowest among the six Southeast Asian nations in the report.
The Philippines also has one of the lowest educational budgets in Asia. Morally corrupt bureaucrats allocate educational funds to enrich themselves.
There are various forms of poverty in the Philippines: in food, intellectual poverty, social poverty, moral poverty. Various reports say Filipino children suffer from all of them, but perhaps the most widespread are hunger and learning poverty.
Food poverty is particularly damaging to them. Feeding programs are inadequate in many schools, especially remote ones, due to the corrupt practices of some officials and even teachers.
There is no apparent supervision or oversight in implementing these programs or upholding high educational standards. Every child is āmoved upā, regardless of their ability to read or write, or comprehend what they read. (To be continued)/PN
