IMAGIME a high school student in Iloilo diligently preparing for the National Achievement Test (NAT), believing it to be a fair assessment of their capabilities.
Imagine their teacher investing time and effort to ensure the class performs well.
Imagine that students and teachers discover that the results are manipulated — crafted to serve bureaucratic interests rather than reflect genuine learning. The emotional and moral toll of such betrayal is immeasurable, undermining the very purpose of education as a tool for empowerment and social mobility.
Albano’s advocacy for an independent assessment body, similar to the one proposed by EDCOM II, is not just logical but imperative. External, non-partisan oversight could restore credibility to educational assessments, aligning them with international standards.
Countries like Singapore and Finland have long embraced rigorous, independent testing mechanisms to great success. Their students excel in global rankings and demonstrate holistic skills that align with real-world demands. Isn’t it time we stopped cheating ourselves and our children out of similar opportunities?
Of course, creating an independent assessment body is easier said than done. It requires political will, financial investment, and public support. But if we truly believe in the transformative power of education, we must overcome these hurdles.
As Albano aptly puts it, the current setup is “incestuous,” with DepEd assessing its own performance — a glaring conflict of interest. It is like unthinkingly letting students grade their own exams and expecting an honest result.
This battle is about the values we teach our children, not just the grades on a report card. Excellence, accountability, and honesty are not merely theoretical ideas; they are values that ought to permeate every facet of our educational system, including tests.
Here, the notion of being “men and women for others” strikes a deep chord. We fail our students and the communities they will eventually serve if we do not maintain the integrity of education.
The journey to reforming external assessments will be long and arduous but worth undertaking. As Albano’s data shows, the current system does a disservice to everyone it is meant to help.
We can establish a foundation of trust, openness, and genuine human excellence in education by resolving these systemic issues. It is a vision of a time when every Filipino can be proud of an educational system that genuinely delivers, where every teacher’s work is sincerely valued, and where every student’s potential is measured honestly.
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Doc H fondly describes himself as a “student of and for life” who, like many others, aspires to a life-giving and why-driven world grounded in social justice and the pursuit of happiness. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the institutions he is employed or connected with./PN
