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Why are Filipino kids not learning?

by Juan Miguel Luz

Filipino elementary and high school students are not dumb, but they have consistently obtained scores below the international average in Math and Science. They have also fared poorly in the National Achievement Test (NAT, which is given to fourth year high school students , in the !igh School "eadiness Test (!S"T, given to first year students and in other evaluation tests. Students around the country have flun#ed the tests in Math, Science and $nglish. Most high school seniors can neither understand what they are reading nor do the necessary calculations to solve scientific problems. Their ability to thin# conceptually and spatially is also wea#. This dismal performance has been attributed to problems such as overcrowded classrooms, poorly trained teachers and lac# of te%tboo#s. &ecause of the shortage of public school teachers, physical and health education instructors are forced to teach core sub'ects such as $nglish, Math and Science. $ducation Secretary Florencio Abad says most of the educators teaching $nglish, Math and Science in public schools do not have s#ills to handle these sub'ects. The problems plaguing the public school system are largely due to the decrease in real terms of the budget for education. (overnment spends only about )*+ per elementary pupil and ),- per secondary student a month. This amount may further decline because of inflation and the increase in student population because of the transfer of students from private to public schools. .nless more funds are funneled into education, public school students will continue to fare poorly in Math, Science and $nglish / sub'ects that Filipinos must e%cel in to survive and thrive in the highly competitive global mar#et.

What needs to be done


Despite the constitutional mandate to spend the largest share of the national budget on education, the achie ement test results reflect, in general, the lo! le el of learning on the part of most Filipino public school children" Why are our students doing so badly in national achie ements tests and in international comparati e sur ey tests? #n March $%%&, all fourth year high school students !ere gi en a 'ational (chie ement )est *'()+ in ,nglish, -cience and Math as a !ay of determining their le els of preparation for uni ersity or the !orld of !ork" .nly /"0 percent of the seniors tested passed the ,nglish test !ith a score of at least 12 percent" #t !as higher for Math !ith 1$"3 percent passing, but !as terrible for -cience !ith less than 1 in 1%% *%"1 percent+ students scoring 12 percent or better" . erall, only $"1 percent of all high school seniors made the passing grade of 12 percent *one4third of all seniors !ould ha e passed if 2% percent !as the passing grade+" )he a erage score for ,nglish !as 2%"1 percent, for -cience 5/"0 percent and for Math &/"$ percent, ersus the benchmark passing grade of 12 percent" Readiness test -imilarly, in July $%%$ and $%%5 and again in May $%%&, the Department of ,ducation *Dep,d+ tested all high school *6- #+ freshmen in the same three sub7ects" )he 6igh -chool 8eadiness )est *6-8)+, called the 'ational Diagnostic )est or 'D) in $%%$ and $%%5, tested more than 1"5 million students aged 1$ and 15" )he three years of testing re ealed similar results" #n the $%%& 6-8), less than one percent *%"2$ percent+ managed a score 12 percent or better in all three sub7ect areas" #f 2% percent *percent ans!ered correctly+ !ere the passing mark, only 1"& percent of the incoming freshmen passed" (n in all three test years, the median score !as a lo! 5% percent *ans!ered correctly+" #n the ,nglish test, only 10 out of e ery 1%% e9aminees passed: in -cience *1% out of 1%%+: and, in Math *0 out of 1%%+" What !as the passing grade for at least half of the students entering 6- #? #t !as about 5& percent in ,nglish, $2 to $3 percent in Math and 5% to 5& percent in -cience" #t !as 5% percent for the entire test" International tests #n the one international comparati e sur ey test the ;hilippines participates in *)rends in #nternational Math and -cience -ur ey+, Filipino school children fared poorly in the 1330 and $%%5 tests" Widely <uoted, the ;hilippines !as 5/ out of 53 countries !ith an a erage

significantly lo!er than the international a erage in Math in the 1330 test" #n -cience, the results !ere similar" #n $%%5, out of &2 countries that participated in )#M--=, the ;hilippines ranked &1 based on the a erage scores of 6- ## that !ere tested in Math" (gain, the -cience scores !ere similar" (nd again, the country a erage !as significantly lo!er than the international a erage in both tests" >learly, these scores are not le els of learning that !ill help our children become producti e adults" We, as a country, cannot allo! this to continue if !e are to build a foundation for de elopment, gro!th and e<uity to deal !ith our many problems that range from eradicating po erty to being internationally competiti e" What has happened o er the years? >omparing the old '-() *'ational -econdary (chie ement )est+ tests for high school seniors in the 133%s !ith the last '() in $%%&, proficiency in ,nglish has impro ed marginally though -cience and Math !orsened" What !ere high school seniors particularly !eak at? Weakest areas #n ,nglish, there is real difficulty in inference, interpretation of information, deduction of meaning, dra!ing conclusions and summarizing ideas" )his is a problem of comprehension" 6igh school graduates are not understanding !hat they are reading" 'either are they de eloping proficiency in the language" -o, they cannot put together coherent ideas to e9plain themsel es or articulate !hat they !ant to say !hether erbally or in !riting" #n short, they are grossly deficient in basic and higher order thinking" #n -cience, all areas are not being mastered" )his ranges from understanding or internalizing scientific data and information, to e9plaining specific scientific theory or la!s, to being able to do the necessary calculations to sol e scientific problems or to substantiate theory" ;hysics, in particular, is !eakest among the sciences" )his is not surprising since the number of physics ma7ors is the smallest among public high school science teachers" #n Mathematics, high school seniors ha e the most difficulty in using formulae to sol e specific problems or to calculate certain results" )he ability to manipulate numbers and e<uations *e"g" algebra+ is !eak" )he ability to think conceptually and spatially *i"e" geometry and trigonometry+ is e en !eaker" ;roblem sol ing using mathematical concepts and established logic and e<uations is poor"

Causes For the incoming high school freshmen, the results are e en more glaring reflecting their poor le el of preparation for high school" (ll competencies in ,nglish, -cience or Math are not being mastered by the ast ma7ority of our elementary school graduates" Why is there so little learning? What e9plains the lo! le el of achie ement? ( number of reasons may e9plain such poor performance" (mong the underlying causes are poorly trained teachers, inade<uate funding, o ercro!ded classrooms and the lack of te9tbooks and other instructional materials" #n short, the usual suspects" ?ut if this !ere al!ays the case, !hy do some schools and students do !ell e en if they face the same constraints? #n looking at lo! le els of learning, Dep,d began to look at the areas of !eakness of students" )he most glaring is the lo! le els of reading" #n the city schools di ision of Manila, the ;hilippine #nformal 8eading #n entory test !as gi en to students at all elementary grade le els" (t the @rade / le el, less than 5 out of e ery 1% students *$0"05+ percent+ !ere independent readers, !ith o er one4third *5/"2% percent+ being frustrated readers or readers !ith serious reading difficulties" )he remainder !ere slightly belo! the @rade / le el of competency in reading" )o disco er the reasons of poor achie ement among incoming freshmen, a sur ey of their reading le els !as like!ise done follo!ing the $%%$ 'D) test" )he initial conclusionsA incoming 6- students in Metro Manila !ere reading at the late @rade & and early @rade 2 le els or about t!o years behind in terms of their age and grade le els" Little !onder then that our public secondary students fared poorly in the readiness and achie ement tests"

Top 20 public high schools by test scores (SY 2003-200 ! School na"e 1"Lope de Bega 'ational 6igh -chool *'orthern -amar+ $" )umauini '6- *#sabela+ 5" 8ustico >apahi -r" M'6- *.rmoc >ity+ &" (label '6- *-arangani+ 2" 6ipona '6- *>apiz+ #nglish 01"50C 0%"50 05"/$ 0%"/& 13"31 Science 01"%%C 01"11 11"55 15"%3 1/"3% $ath 31"/$C 32"3/ 3&"$2 3&"&/ 03"//

&

/" Duinapundan '6- *,astern -amar+ 1" 'arciso 8amos '6- *?inalonan, ;angasinan+ 0" Lipa >ity '6- *Lipa >ity+ 3" )andoc '6- *-an >arlos >ity+ 1%" 8egional -cience 6- *La Enion+ 11" Magsikap '6- *.ccidental Mindoro+ 1$" Bictoria '6- *'orthern -amar+ 15" -an Juan '6- (laminos *Laguna+ 1&" (legria '6- *'orthern -amar+ 12" >anipaan '6- *-outhern Leyte+ 1/" Di isoria '6- *-outhern Leyte+ 11" ;angalagan '6- *-an >arlos >ity+ 10" Malimono 6- *-urigao del 'orte+ 13" Medellin '-)- *>ebu+ $%" Lapinigan '6- *(gusan del -ur+
Source0 1epartment of $ducation

00"$3 01"%2 01"/$ 0/"15 0$"%% 15"5% 11"&& 05"05 0$"// 0%"&2 13"11 02"/1 10"// 10"// /1"&3

1%"/5 /1"3$ /3"&5 23"$0 /2"13 0%"0% 11"21 /2"12 20"2& /$"/1 1%"%3 22"25 /$"3$ /$"3$ 10"/0

0/"1& 32"&2 3$"%/ 3&"%$ 31"/1 02"$$ 3%"$1 00"1& 31"%& 32"%3 00"&0 32"/% 35"50 35"50 00"%3

%i&ing the proble" )o address this problem, Dep,d set a number policy directions, includingA *a+ a ne! grading system to reflect true performance of students *!ith no transmutation of grades+, *b+ a 6igh -chool ?ridge program to help those that need help the most, and *c+ F, ery >hild a 8eader *by @rade 5+G program" )he 6igh -chool ?ridge is a one4year remedial program for incoming freshmen designed to correct the lo! le els of learning early, rather than late, in a childHs education career *at age 1$ to 15 years+" )he program focuses on impro ing three sub7ect areas I ,nglish, Math and -cience I and is intended for students !ho did not meet the cutoff score in the 6-8)" 2

)he permanent solution to this learning deficiency is to make F, ery >hild a 8eaderG starting at the elementary le el" For this, Dep,d has embarked on a program to make e ery child a reader by @rade 5 and to address the problem of poor learning achie ement in the formati e years, including preschool" )his !ill take time to bear fruit, ho!e er, and it !ill be a number of years before !e see achie ement test scores impro e dramatically" ?ut it must start !ith raising the le el of independent readers at the end of the elementary cycle from less than 5% percent to 1%% percent" 'right spots (mid the sad ne!s are bright spots in the system" #t is important to highlight these to sho! that our public education system ha e good teachers and good schools" )hat they !ork under the same resource constraints as all other schools should gi e us hope that change is possible" #n the $%%& '() for graduating high school seniors, it !as a small 'orthern -amar school I Lope de Bega 'ational 6igh -chool I that topped the test !ith an a erage test score of 0/"/1 percent ersus the national a erage of &&"5/ percent" . er four hours a!ay from the pro incial capital by e9tremely rough roads, this school of only &1& students and 7ust o er 1%% seniors pro es that lack of resources can be more than made up for by <uality teaching and community support" Si(e "atters #n the $%%& '() for high school seniors, eight of the top $2 high schools came from 8egion B### *,astern Bisayas+ I a region kno!n more for its po erty and lack of de elopment" Fi e schools came from 8egion # *#locos+ and three coming from 8egion J### *>araga+" 'one of the top performing high schools came from the larger schools in Metro Manila" What accounts for the success of these schools? >learly, size matters" #n this case, all !ere smaller schools !ith small class sizes allo!ing for better interaction bet!een students and teachers" )he teacher4student relationship more than made up for the lack of materials" (nd community support, especially in allo!ing students to stay in school e en for remedial !ork, !as critical, *?y the same token, it !ould be difficult for the o er4cro!ded, multi4shift schools in Metro Manila and 8egions #B4( and ### to score !ell !hen the learning en ironment is cramped and uncomfortable"+ $entoring progra" Lope de Bega had an acti e mentoring program to help poor4performing students catch up !ith the sub7ects they !ould fall behind in" #n fact, gi en the difficult home situation of most of

the students, the school scheduled a school!ork period at the end of each day rather than assign home!ork, !hich !ould probably not be done gi en the poor home conditions of the children" #n the $%%5 'D) for @rade & pupils, the highest performing school !as >aburacan ,lementary -chool in -orsogon *8egion B+ !ith only 30 pupils" #t !as one of t!o schools that scored 1%% percent in reading comprehension and science" )he other school in -ultan Kudarat *8egion J##+" #n that same test, special mention has to be gi en to the schools di ision of ;angasinan ## based in ?inalonan" )!enty4one elementary schools from this di ision !ere among the top $/ schools in the test, many of !hich had perfect scores in the reading comprehension sub4test" )here are those !ho !ill say that ;hilippine education as a system has failed" (nd it has" 'asics We ha e analyzed and o eranalyzed the problem to death o er the past t!o decades" #t is no longer about identifying the problem" #t is no! about pro iding system4!ide solutions" >learly, reading is at the core of this learning problem" )he ?ridge ;rogram, the F, ery >hild a 8eaderG program, the -chools First #nitiati e are all about <uality and gi ing a long4term ad antage to our Filipino public school children" )his can be achie ed by keeping short the schooling of children, especially from lo!er4income families" This can be attained by gi)ing the" "ore education in the basics and building a *oundation o* sel*-learning skills + reading, -riting and .rith"etic + to help the" beco"e better learners *or li*e/ .nly then !ill they ha e a meaningful life I a lifetime of producti ity and competiti eness and the <uality of life that comes !ith that"

2u3 is an education undersecretary and associate professor at the Asian 4nstitute of Management (on leave .

source0 ;hilippine Daily #n<uirer, May $3, $%%2, (1/

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