Education in crisis
First of 2 parts
OUR future is in crisis. The basic purpose of education is to teach a nation’s children enough to become worthwhile, active participants in an adult society. A secondary goal is to provide awareness and knowledge of the universe we live in and all that surrounds us. It would be nice to also inculcate a desire to always learn as we go through life. And teach us to think. On this latter one, I understand that we teach by rote learning. With classes often consisting of over 40 pupils, it’s not possible to do anything else. That doesn’t teach you to think.
The future of a country is in its children and the education of them. Even more so in this highly technological IT (information technology) world.
Thirty years ago, Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was $285.95, ours was $1,094.54. Today, it’s reversed. Vietnam has multiplied that by 14 to reach $4,086.52; we have struggled to grow by a miserable three times to $3,623.59. Had we grown by 14 like Vietnam, as we could have, we would be way up there in the middle-income countries at $15,300 GDP per capita. Vietnam attracted $36.6 billion in foreign direct investments last year, a measly $5.88 billion. One reason: education. Vietnam has a well-educated workforce. We don’t. And don’t argue with me on this. We rank at the bottom of the scale on almost everything. We do in great part, but not only, because we don’t have enough highly educated people. Not even sufficiently educated people.
In the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test of countries in 2018, we were, as we are all so dreadfully aware, second to last in maths and science, and last in language out of 73 countries and eight territories. Vietnam ranked 31st in mathematics, 34th in reading comprehension and 37th in science.
The Philippine educational system has failed, dismally. The world’s comparative numbers tell you this with abundant clarity. But what is worrying about it is that the leaders of the Education department don’t seem to have accepted this, and that revolutionary change in the whole education system has to occur. What has to make one wonder is that in the public’s appraisal of the ranking of all government departments, the Department of Education (DepEd) is ranked as the most trusted and top-performing government agency. I can only put this down to two possibilities. One, at the personal, local level parents and teachers relate well together. Teachers are indeed the backbone of our school system, but they can only do so much. And two, the parents are poorly educated so aren’t aware of the low level of teaching. The system constrains them. The system has let everybody down, immeasurably.
Last in the world in reading, and second-last in maths and science in 2018 surely makes that entirely clear. But apparently not. After that dismal performance in a world comparison of the education level in 2018 of 15-yearold students, you’d have thought remedial action would have been taken with great urgency and attention. But as the recent (2022) result showed there’s been negligible improvement.
The sixth to last in reading and maths, and third to last in science is not an improvement as actual rating numbers showed statistically negligible improvement. Just look at who was worse: Guatemala, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Paraguay and Cambodia. None of our Asian neighbors except war-torn Cambodia. The countries now behind us certainly aren’t ones we should be measured against. You can’t do much worse than that.
The average score, which is the real measure, in maths went from 353 in 2018 to 355 in 2020. In reading, it went from 340 to 347. And in science, it shifted slightly from 357 to 365. These are statistically insignificant differences. The world averages were 487 in reading and 489 for both science and math, while Vietnam, which these days seems to be our main competitor, got 505, 543 and 496, respectively. These three subjects are the ones you must have to just be able to exist independently in today’s society. Yet I haven’t seen any acknowledgment of this. Needless to say, Covid has only made the ratings worse for this batch of Filipino kids.
It’s shameful. Our children’s future is being taken away from them.
Former education secretary Leonor Briones said in 2019 that she would lead “aggressive reforms” to review and update the K to 12 curriculum and improve learning facilities, and upskill and reskill teachers and school heads through professional development programs. I’m sure she fully intended to do that. And maybe some of it was done, but the results show whatever was done hasn’t worked on what has to be done: Educate kids to be productive members of society.
The current education secretary, who worryingly has no experience in this sector, has said much the same thing. She said,”I call on everyone to pull our efforts together for a more resilient Matatag education system, an education system that aims to improve learning outcomes, prioritize student and teacher well-being, and promote accountability to close remaining disparities.” I have little doubt when the next evaluation is done whoever is the education secretary will be saying the same thing, there’ll again be little change.
I can say that with some confidence after I read an Inquirer (December 7) headline that read: “DepEd is still positive despite PISA results.” The article goes on to say that the country maintained its pre-pandemic performance, taking it as a sign that “our education system is resilient.” May I remind the Education department leaders that pre-pandemic performance put the Philippines even lower on the PISA scale? And what on earth does “resilient” mean? When you don’t even acknowledge a problem, you’ve got a real problem.
The secretary should have said something like this: “It’s obvious we have a very serious problem here. I’m going to form a panel of outside, independent experts, that will include experts from the successful countries to formulate a totally new education system for the Philippines. And do it within six months.” This sad story continues.