National learning

MUCH has been said about the sorry state of our country’s performance in the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA (which reported on Dec. 5, 2023, that 15-year-old Filipino students are way behind their international counterparts in learning competencies) and other tests that measure student proficiency in competencies and skills. Some people say it’s the curriculum. The Department of Education’s (DepEd) current study and revision aims to address needs, close gaps and ensure mastery of the basics. This takes time.

Some say it’s the infrastructure and resources. We still need more classrooms, better textbooks, adequate supplies and quality instructional materials.

Others point to teacher availability and competency. We need more teachers, good ones at that, but many continue to leave the country for greener pastures abroad because, let’s face it, their salaries are not enough. As an aside, the first time my wife and I went on a Mediterranean cruise many years ago, our very efficient Filipino chambermaid mentioned my daughter’s name and asked me if we were related. Of course, I said yes, she is my daughter, and what a small world indeed! It turned out that she was my daughter’s teacher in grade school, the only one who spoke good English. My curiosity got the better of me and I asked why she left the teaching profession. She said the pay was much, much better, and she had no alternative left to support her growing children. There were many Filipinos among the crew who faced the same dilemma.

But perhaps, amid all these looming and complicated factors, we may need to focus on the learners themselves.

What constitutes a child’s education? If we were to use a multidimensional framework (heart, mind, body, spirit), the conditions for a child’s education begins to set in the womb of the mother.

Nutrition, health and temperament are influenced as early as this period in a child’s life until infancy. What nutrients would a child inside the womb absorb if, for example, the mother eats instant noodles and takes soft drinks on a daily basis? The body’s chemicals are greatly influenced by what we ingest — too much of the bad and too little of the good results in imbalance. And this imbalance is manifested by symptoms such as sadness, depression, helplessness and emptiness (sounds familiar?).

Health and nutrition continue to be formed alongside physical development, communication and relationship-building in infancy and toddler stages. The home environment and family structure play a crucial part here. If parents are away, children are affected in terms of their motivation, self-esteem and how they relate with others. They may even develop feelings of insecurity or inferiority. All these, on top of learning how to control thoughts, feelings and behaviors (self-regulation), and actions and impulses (selfdiscipline) in the growing-up years, leave much to be desired.

Children mimic the adults that surround them. They consume food that is given to them. They pick up mannerisms, habits and patterns. They are given gadgets to entertain them as soon as they can see, leading them to throw tantrums when these gadgets are taken away. They do not know how to delay gratification. They learn that the number of likes, views and shares define the value of content. And if someone does not like them, they feel they are failures.

These and many other conditions set the stage for a child’s education.

It seems that we are setting them up for failure even before they begin school. While there are success stories — such as the children who studied by candlelight, earned scholarships and made a better life for themselves by sheer self-discipline and hard work — most of our children don’t even have a chance. And this is a big challenge for parents. A parent cannot control the curriculum, the learning environment, the materials, the class size and schedule. But a parent can control other things that matter much, much more — the foundations for learning.

The objective of the K to 12 curriculum which was implemented in 2012 is to comprehensively reform basic education and increase the work force of the nation.

However, these expected outputs were not achieved. Companies still preferred to hire college graduates rather than high school finishers.

The current administration, through the DepEd, reviewed this system and decided to discontinue the senior high school program.

I agree with this decision. In fact, I wish they would return to the former system of Grades 1 to 6, four years of high school and at least four years of college.

The curriculum must be tweaked, and supported by more infrastructures like school buildings and laboratory facilities.

The Matatag Curriculum aims to:

– Make the curriculum relevant to produce job-ready, active and responsible citizens;

– Take steps to accelerate the delivery of basic education services and provision facilities;

– Take good care of learners by promoting learner well-being, inclusiveness learning and a positive learning environment; and

– Give support for teachers to teach better, like more teaching supplies, de-loading of clerical work.

In some public schools, the teacher is also the registrar, the admissions officer, the secretary and the canteen supplier, the school materials supplier (pencils, balloons, pad paper, etc.) and the nurse. More workers should be hired to take some of the burden off the workload of teachers.

It is already a very tired need to hire more teachers and add more classrooms. But without this very basic provision, real learning will not take place and we will always look forward to being at the bottom rung in the literacy ladder indices, regionally and worldwide.