Tabuk elderly educators bewail non-reader phenomenon

TABUK CITY, Kalinga: Some retired educators here lament the growing number of non- readers in the intermediate grades and even in high school, claiming that during their time the phenomenon was unthinkable.

A quick survey made by this writer last September showed that there were at least 30 non- readers in Tabuk City National High School, the biggest high school in the province, and four non- readers at the Tabuk Institute, a private school offering elementary and high school education.

Ruth Salvador, who retired as district supervisor of the Nothern Tabuk District ( NTD) in 2004, said she never saw an illiterate pupil graduate from the elementary during her 41 years in the education department.

Salvador recalls that they had reading tests along with their academic tests held at the start and end of the school year, which, she said, were meant to assess the capabilities of the pupils at the start of the year, so the teachers would know how to help those who need assistance.

The administrators and teachers, even the parents worked with each other to make the laggards catch up, Salvador said.

Retired Home Economics division supervisor Pacita Sarol could not believe what was happening, saying that at the time she left service in 2000, Grade 2 teachers blamed the Grade 1 teachers who passed

non- readers.

“That’s why Grade 1 teachers must do their best,” Sarol said.

She said that in those days, the performance rating of Grade 1 teachers rose and fell on the absence or presence of non- readers in their class at the end of the school year.

“The achievement of children determines your rating. You are not a good teacher if one of your pupils could not read,” Sarol said, adding that the supervisors validated if indeed all the pupils could read by personally testing the reading skills of the children.

Told that under the K to 12 curriculum, the deadline for teaching children to learn how to read is Grade 3, Sarol incredulously asked why wait until Grade 3 when in the past, children acquired the skill in Grade 1.

“I studied after the war and we learned to read in Grade 1 with the use of the ‘ Pepe and Pilar’ textbook. I am really surprised why we have this reading problem now,” Sarol said.

Paula Umaybas, who retired in 2005, blames what she calls the new rule in the Department of Education ( DepEd), prohibiting the retention of pupils, claiming she never promoted non- readers in her 33 years as a Grade 1 teacher until her last two years when the new policy went into effect.

She is also convinced that aside from the new policy, deficient dedication among present day public school teachers is a key factor in the non- reader phenomenon.

She related that during their time, teachers who were doing good were recognized at the end of the school year and for Grade 1 teachers, this was no mean feat because they did not pass pupils who could not read.

She said that because of the automatic assumption that if there was someone who could not read in the class, the teacher was remiss in her responsibility, they did their very best to tutor reading laggards.

In this context, Sarol described how a dedicated teacher would respond: “They do their best because there is no reason a child could not learn to read unless he is not mentally up to it, in which case he should be referred to the SPED ( special education). If they are normal and the teacher gives her all, there is no reason the child could not learn to read. They have no self- satisfaction unless all their pupils could read. They manifest dedication, patience and love in teaching their pupils because teachers are supposed to be the second parent of the child and as such, should wish everything the parents would wish for the child.”

A retired district supervisor, who does not want to be named, blames the shift on the basis for rating of the performance of teachers from what their pupils have learned to other criteria such as the ability to comply with reports and submit so many paperworks.

“The measure of performance should not be the submission of accomplishment reports since that can be faked but it should be the academic performance of children,” the retired educator said.

He proposed that to arrest the slide in the quality of education in the country, fool- proof national tests should also be administered to determine the academic achievement of pupils “so that teachers, school administrators and supervisors will leave no stone unturned in the education of their students.”

He elaborated that two ways of ensuring the integrity of the results was for DepEd people from other provinces administer the tests and for no one in the DepEd in the locality be involved in the activity. He said that even if it costs money and takes a long time, what was important was that the results would be unassailable.

“Incentive should be based on the advancement of the knowledge of the learners. Even if the government will spend provided the examinations are administered properly and we really get the true measure of the proficiency level of children,” the retired educator said.