BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR and Ashzel Hachero
PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. yesterday reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to address problems and concerns confronting the education sector while admitting the country has “failed” young students.
The President, during the presentation of the Basic Education Report 2023 at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, said education is the most valuable thing that can be given to children and stressed his administration will not scrimp on the educational sector and young learners.
Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte presented the Basic Education Report 2023, which included the current challenges, priorities and plans of the Department of Education as well as updates on the ongoing review of the K to 12 curriculum.
Duterte also launched the “MATATAG” agenda, a roadmap the Department of Education (DepEd) designed to address multiple problems in the Philippine education system.
Marcos vowed to push for the upliftment of the education system in the county and make it at par with the globally-accepted standards.
“That is the main motivation that we should keep in our hearts. We have failed them. We have to admit that. We have failed our children and let us not keep failing them anymore. Otherwise, we will not allow them to become the great Filipinos that we know they can be. They will not become the great Filipinos that will be recognized not only by their fellow Filipinos but by many people around the world,” he said.
The President said his administration recognizes the challenges and issues facing the education sector and “all of which must be confronted with an open mind and compassion for those who might have fallen behind over the past few years.”
Marcos added that a well-trained populace and a well-trained and highly experienced workforce will help the Philippines succeed.
“I have previously mentioned that this administration will at no point scrimp on investment in our educational sector and in our young learners. And I am here today to reaffirm that commitment,” he said, adding the government will build infrastructure that will provide learners, teachers, and the entire academic sector with a healthy and safe environment that is conducive to learning as well as invest more on the teachers, particularly their education and training, to help improve the educational system.
TEACHING A VOCATION
Marcos also recognized the contributions and sacrifices of teachers, especially those who remained in their profession not because they want to be rich or because it is their job but because “It is a vocation.”
“It is up to us to support them in that effort because they feel the need to educate young people. And we are blessed that we have such teachers and we should hold them close and do all we can to support them so that they can do, to the best of their ability, what they have pledged to do,” Marcos added.
He said the government will also offer multiple opportunities to support the personal and professional needs of teachers.
“It is my firm belief that quality teachers yield hardworking, productive, and law-abiding citizens,” he added.
The President said his administration fully supports Duterte’s goal to improve the country’s basic education system.
STRAIGHT TO THE POINT
Duterte did not mince words when she enumerated the many ills plaguing the country’ s basic education, saying school facilities are among the major challenges facing the department, along with a “congested curriculum” and the promise of the K to 12 curriculum that remains a promise to this day.
Duterte said as a mother of four school-age children and as education secretary for over 28 million learners, she saw firsthand the challenges facing the education sector.
“The lack of school infrastructure and resources to support the ideal teaching process is the most pressing issue hounding the Philippine basic education,” Duterte said.
“The department is not blind to the reality that there is a need to build, repair and maintain school infrastructures to accommodate the growing number of learners all over the Philippines,” she added.
Duterte said out of the 327, 851 school buildings nationwide, only 104,536 are in good condition. She said there are also 100,072 school buildings that need minor repairs, 89,252 in need of major repairs, and 21,727 set for condemnation.
“In the Visayas alone, a total of 17,263 classrooms damaged by super typhoon Odette in 2021 are still subject for repair and replacement,” Duterte said, adding she visited two of these schools last year — Clarin National High School in Bohol and the Triana Elementary School in Limasawa island in Southern Leyte.
“The destruction left by Super typhoon Odette in these schools were heartbreaking, raising the urgency of an appropriate action and collaboration between DepEd and education stakeholders from the local government units, private sector and international partners,” she said.
The problems brought by natural calamities, she added, is compounded by existing armed conflict, especially in far-flung areas of the country.
Duterte said DepEd will need at least P9.82 billion to repair schools damaged by Odette in the Visayas alone.
This year, the national government allocated P15.6 billion to DepEd for the construction of new schools.
CONGESTED CURRICULUM
Duterte said the ongoing review of the K to 12 curriculum showed the “curriculum content is congested, some prerequisites of identified learning competencies are missing or misplaced,” and that a “significant number of learning competencies cater to high cognitive demands.”
She said for Senior High School, the work immersion program has contributed to a high passing rate of 90 percent in the National Certificate of Assessment given by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
However, she said industry partners have expressed concerns the allotment for work immersion is “only for work familiarization and not for actual skills acquisition.”
A study conducted by the Bureau of Curriculum Development showed that 83 percent of Senior High School respondents pursued college education while only a little over 10 percent of the graduates were employed.
“The K to 12 curriculum promised to produce graduates that are employable. That promise remains a promise,” Duterte admitted.
WEAK TEACHING METHODS
The ongoing assessment of the K to 12 curriculum revealed the “weak teaching methods” of teachers in addressing 21st century skills, adding that studies conducted by the World Bank, UNICEF and the Research Center for Teacher Quality showed that Filipino teachers need further support, particularly in “strategically teaching critical thinking and problem solving skills.”
“While critical thinking was most evident in the curriculum, it was also the least taught to students by teachers. Instead, lessons leaned toward conceptual or content-based teaching. And lessons lacked in-depth processing to cultivate critical thinking and problem solving,” Duterte said.
But she said it is not the fault of the teachers whose dedication, integrity and commitment to Filipino learners are beyond reproach.
“The sad reality is that the system has failed them. This is the system that burdens them with backbreaking and time-consuming administrative tasks, a system that provides no adequate support and robs them of the opportunity to professionally grow and professionally teach, “ she said.
LITERACY PROBLEMS
Duterte also pointed to the “distressing and alarming” problem in literacy, as she cited a 2018 study of the Programme for International Assessments or PISA showing that 81 percent of participating Filipino learners could not deal with basic math problems, 82 percent had trouble understanding text of moderate length, and 78 percent could not recognize correct explanations for scientific phenomena.
She said these multitude of problems resulted in Filipino learners who are “not academically proficient.”
“Oftentimes, Filipino learners experience emotional abuse and exhaustion. Some Filipino learners suffer from psychological fatigue and being academically insecure, many of them may fail to meet the standards of a demanding and competitive world,” she said.
“This is the truth. Ito po ang katotohanan (This is the truth),” she added.
DEPED ACTION
Duterte said all is not lost as DepEd has started implementing the National Recovery Plan that started with the return of 28.4 million learners to school after two years of blended and online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with learning remediation and intervention programs.
Various initiatives to further capacitate teachers have also been implemented, with 15,331 teachers receiving graduate scholarships, 17,636 given early grade language literacy while 161,700 have undergone training organized by the National Educators Academy of the Philippines.
The K-12 curriculum will also be revised to make it more responsive to the needs of students and the country and to develop learners who are imbued with 21st century skills, discipline and patriotism.
“We will also reduce the number of learning areas in K to 12 from 7 to 5 to focus on foundational skills in literacy and numeracy in the early grades, particularly among disadvantaged students,” the DepEd chief said.
The DepEd, she added, will also revitalize reading and science and technology programs as well as English proficiency.
The mother tongue-based education will also be reviewed, she added.
Duterte said DepEd will also build more resilient schools and classrooms.
“For 2023, we have the budget to build around 23,000 classrooms,” she said. “We commit to closing the remaining gaps in school infrastructure with policies to eliminate corruption and insulate the allocation of school building funds from politicization.”
She also promised to provide all schools within 3-5 years with electricity connections as well as e-classroom packages for teaching, comprising 46 laptops for each package, and a smart television set.
“This will accelerate the integration of ICT teaching and learning and institutionalize blended learning,” Duterte said.
Last year, Duterte told Congress she would be able to address all the ills plaguing the basic education sector if lawmakers would give DepEd an additional P100 billion on top of the proposed P710 billion allocation for 2023.
LACK OF CLASSROOMS
More than half of Filipinos want the DepEd to immediately address the lack of classrooms in public schools nationwide.
This was reflected in a survey conducted by Pulse Asia on September 17 to 21 last year with 1,200 respondents that was commissioned by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, committee on basic education chairman.
Fifty-two percent of the respondents said the lack of classrooms needs to be given utmost priority, followed by 49 percent saying that DepEd needs to solve the lack of learning materials like books and computers, while 45 percent said the lack of teachers is another pressing matter that needs to be resolved.
Thirty-three percent said the quality of education also needs to be prioritized, while 24 percent said the lack of textbooks is another issue that needs to be given priority.
Gatchalian said the government needs to commit to meet the classroom requirements for all learners since based on the 2019 National School Building Inventory, “there’s a shortage of 167,901 classrooms nationwide.”
He said the government needs around P420 billion to meet the classroom requirements based on the Senate’s budget deliberations for the 2023 national budget. — With Raymond Africa
