Private school group laments state of education in PH
December 16, 2020, 4:18 PM
A private school group has lamented the state of education in the country as reflected in the result of Filipino students in international academic examinations.
The Federation of Associations of Private School Administrators (FAPSA) said that the current state of the country’s education system is a result of “poor supervision of education committees in both houses in Congress” as well as the “dismal management” of the Department of Education (DepEd).
“All of us are guilty,” said FAPSA President Eleazardo Kasilag.
He noted that the status of the Philippine education system is also a result of “unmotivated classroom processing” of both public and private schools teachers and administrators.
Kasilag pointed out various factors which led to the “death” of the Philippine education.
“First, the dismal passing rate in the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET),” he said. He noted that out of “386,840 examinees in 2019, only 147, 353 passed while 239,487 examinees failed where the average passing rate was only 30 percent over an 11-year period.”
Citing data from Sen. Joel Villanueva, chairman of the Senate Committee on Higher Education, Kasilag noted that “there were 445 schools with a zero passing rate in the September 2019 LET.”
Another indicator, he said, is the result of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) in 2019 which showed that Grade 4 Filipino learners lag behind their counterparts from 57 countries with the lowest score of 297 in mathematics and 249 in science.
Kasilag also cited that the Philippines also lagged behind other countries in the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) 2019, where the fifth grade Filipino students who attained the minimum proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics were much lower than Malaysia and Vietnam. The study is based on the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) “to ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education” by 2030.
“A great number of Pinoy students were sometimes equal or worse than Cambodian counterparts,” Kasilag lamented.
Moreover, Kasilag also said that Filipino students also showed poor in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a computer-based test that measures the performance of 15-year-old students in math, science, and reading conducted by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
The Philippines’ score of 353 in mathematics, 357 in science, and 340 in reading were all below the average of participating countries.
DepEd is set to join another round of PISA in 2022. However, FAPSA called this move “baloney.”
“It’s like a boxer, having lost all rounds, beaten black and blue, and still, his trainer scheduled him again in the next fight hoping to deliver a lucky punch,” Kasilag said.
“Take the case of the TIMMS where after 2003 with a dismal performance suffered an even worse finish in 2018, after 16 years, and wish to try again in 2022?” he added.
While there are “several issues” that need to be addressed to revive the country’s education, Kasilag said that the government, particularly DepEd, should address the congestion inside the classroom.
Aside from teachers upskilling and reskilling teachers, Kasilag said that smaller class sizes should be prioritized. “Regardless of the passion and tenacity of the teacher, doing the lesson to that big class size, he shall fail or any human being for that matter.”
SOURCE: https://mb.com.ph/2020/12/16/private-school-group-laments-state-of-education-in-ph/
