A recent commentary, ” Our Interconnected Crises,” by Cielito Habito of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 9, 2022, took my breath away. I thought our 2018 PISA ( Programme for International Student Assessment ), in which we placed last among 79 countries tested in reading and 78th in Math and Science, would be so tough to our national pride that our Dep Ed would never subject itself again to such an anomaly.
But it was not an anomaly. The World Bank’s recent assessment on learning poverty, which measures the percentage of children who cannot read and understand a simple text by age 10, rated the Philippines at 90.9%, against Indonesia’s 52.8 %, Malaysia’s 42, Thailand’s 23.4, Vietnam’s 18.1 and Singapore’s 2.8%.
World bank: over 90% of our 10-year-olds can not read and understand a simple text.
Habito has also highlighted the stunting problem among Filipino children. Chronic malnutrition has caused 33.4 % of our children five years old and below to lose height by two standard deviations. While this has decreased to 28.8%, the pandemic had doubled the incidence of forced hunger, causing a likely escalation of childhood stunting.
A “silent pandemic” according to FNRI ( Food and Nutrition Research Institute ), and it’s not the height that is a concern but that 90% of brain development happens by age 5. The chronically malnourished child with less cognitive ability and memory is irreversibly damaged for life.
It explains why we had the lowest I.Q. ( average of 86 ) among all 10 ASEAN countries in early 2000. Poor education outcomes are the most prominent and immediate consequence of this. It correlates well to our poor economic output and high poverty rates. The SRP ( Self Rated Poor), “Poverty Seen from Below”, Mahar Mangahas , PDI, Aug. 13, is at 48% nationally ( NCR @ 41%, 64% Visayas, 62% in Mindanao )
Judging by the number of commentaries and letters to the editors from major Phil newspapers, there is an emerging consensus that the state of education in the homeland has not improved since the introduction of the K-12 system.
If anything, the situation has turned for the worse because of COVID. Implementing programs outside of the in-person classroom approach proved unwieldy. Vast sections of the student population did not benefit from several alternatives to access lessons.
It was a free-for-all non-system that frustrated both students and teachers. I have devoted three articles ( “Dark Clouds Over Education,” Parts I and II, and “The Unexplored Causes of PISA Debacle,” in Sept. 2019 and Sept. 2020, respectively, with BALITA ) to explore these issues.
First, it explored myriad problems plaguing the entire education landscape in the Philippines. Then, when we bottomed PISA in 2018, I wrote a lengthy analysis of why it happened. Finally, again, I wrote a retrospective experience about my education within that system in my last BALITA article, “Towards a Lasting Legacy.”
I will discuss these themes throughout this article as we explore new ideas. Post-war and throughout the 60s ( and may still be ), our system was structurally flawed. The “one-size- fits- all ” scheme is biased towards those who have a better mastery of the fundamentals, leaving the laggards and the socially excluded eating dust.
The orally competent gets the attention; little energy is devoted to bringing the stragglers up to speed. It is fair to say that the results at elementary, ( middle school,) and high school levels are entirely predictable. The system had not been kind to the poor.
So even now, at an SRP of 48%, no one should be surprised with our current proficiency levels. And so it is not perplexing the high educational ranking of Korea and Finland ( poverty rate: 15 and 16% respectively ).
The orally competent gets the attention; little energy is devoted to bringing the stragglers up to speed. It is fair to say that the results at elementary,( middle school,) and high school levels are entirely predictable.
The system had not been kind to the poor. So even now, at an SRP of 48%, no one should be surprised with our current proficiency levels. And so it is not perplexing the high educational ranking of Korea and Finland ( poverty rate: 15 and 16% respectively ).
Marcos Jr: “the Philippines would have been another Singapore had my father continued his presidency” reality: had Marcos Sr. continued as President, the Philippines would have been another Haiti.
In an interview with the current President Marcos Jr some years back when he was a candidate for V.P., he asserted that if his father continued his presidency, the Philippines would have been “another Singapore.”
That can only come from a man who is contemptuous of the average Filipino’s capacity to comprehend. It was a bleak assessment considering Singapore’s zero corruption. Coming from the scion of one of the most corrupt ( second only to Suharto in the world’s top 10), the irony is not lost.
Marcos Sr. chose to ignore Lee Kuan Yew’s advice for a progressive path for the Philippines at the time when we had the chance. Greed won the day! The pandemic has not been particularly good for our situation.
Although, even a casual observer of our system knew that outside of an “in-person” approach would spell disaster and do little to improve our already precarious position. Four years since PISA did not improve student achievements, based on a current analysis and assessment review from other agencies. The World Bank indicates that 80% of our students fall below the minimum proficiency levels.
Despite adding another three years (pre-K plus Senior High ) from the long-standing 10-year formal education, our students only have the equivalent of 7.5 years of schooling. COVID also caused a significant reduction of enrolees in both public and private schools. Close to 4 million students did not enroll in the 2020-21 school year ( 2.75 M from private schools and 1.1 M from public schools ).
A substantial number of private schools also suspended operations, displacing 56 000 students and 4,400 teachers. Much has been written about the successes of the (South ) Korean and Finland models. It seems too easy to adapt these models and expect results similar to these countries. Unfortunately, a lot in our system put our students at a disadvantage compared to Korea or Finland.
Our third-world status means we do not have the same resources we can impose to make ours more competitive. Expenditures on capital spending and students are well below the UNESCO guidelines.
Therefore there is more overcrowding, a high student-teacher ratio, and a lack of essential student resources such as computers, books, and laboratory facilities. So while there are many similarities with our recent K-12, it does not begin to address the differences in the length of the school year ( Korea has 40 extra school days;) their high school has a 16-hour day ( additional tutoring hours on top of a regular school day ), and there is no ambiguity in the language of instruction ( Korean! )
Motivation and discipline are endangered primarily by good, highly inspired teachers. Consistent, high-quality teachers highlight the Finland system. The minimum requirement for teachers in Finland is a master’s degree. Getting a master’s shows a teacher’s high commitment to their career.
They are research-oriented and capable of independent problem-solving. There is a collaborative policy among teachers, parents, students, employers, and cultural entities in the community. This approach improves trust in the system.
Teaching is a highly respected academic profession in Finland; they can exercise freedom in curriculum, pedagogies, and assessment. Unlike the major and minor subject areas of high school teachers in my generation, more and more progressive approaches train teachers in a four-subject area of expertise in keeping with an evolving requirement of students today
The proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: Korean: a lifetime employment to scores of world-renowned, high-tech, cutting-edge Korean companies. Filipino: a “green card” to the U.S. or a resident card in Canada or the U.K.
The most significant difference of all is culture. We are not as driven as our Korean counterparts. Both parents and students have high motivation to get to the best post-secondary institutions, and often there is stiff competition for the best.
A reward of lifetime employment from scores of S Korean manufacturing and world-renowned cutting-edge technologies keeps the education system continually evolving. Unfortunately, we do not have anything even close to this game plan. Our predilection for foreign opportunity is a subtle offshoot of our colonial mentality.
Worse, there is a pervasive sentiment that the well-connected get the breaks. ( this is not just an idle thought; our cronyism-oligarchy economy caters to this view )
The proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is a “resident card” to the U.S. or any number of western countries offering better opportunities, eventual family reunification, and citizenship.
Our president (Marcos ) has recently declared a return to English as the medium of instruction” so that we can be more competitive in the foreign labour market.” It is pathetic on so many levels. Our students do not see any local outlet of talent( a call center has become an obsession ).
Instead, they see hordes of graduates lining up at foreign embassies for employment abroad ( many of which are well below their training ). With this kind of motivation, there is no drive to be the best in a chosen career. What good is a degree in education if one aspires to be a nanny in Singapore? or a business degree and a spot at Tim Horton’s?
This is an ongoing situation with our well-educated lot because our homegrown graduates do not match the requirements in other western countries without additional years of schooling. Instead of creating new and more opportunities for our people, our government has become obsessed with OFW deployments.
The best thing one can say about it is it serves to let off steam to potential social unrest. Despite recent increases in salaries of public school teachers ( now averaging C$ 650 /M with private school teachers @375 ), we have not achieved parity with the other professionals with equivalent training. BPOs ( call centers ) continue to siphon teachers and would-be teachers out as demand continues and pay much better.
Last year, at least 26,000 teaching positions were left unfilled. It is looking grimmer as western labour demand goes unabated. The teachers are leaving not necessarily for teaching positions but for other job opportunities. In Canada, the upgrading requirements for Phil-trained teachers are steep and arduous.
The supply of highly dedicated teachers in Phil has become increasingly problematic. (read: https://www.balita.ca/the-unexplored-causes-of-the-pisa-debacle/, Sept. 1, 2020 ). Computerization and globalization have provided new career avenues for would-be teachers. These new alternative careers also pay better and are seen as an easier ticket to migration.
The continuing marginalization of teachers is not driving more motivated people into the profession. Demographics is also playing havoc with a new crop of young people who are computer savvy. They do not see themselves as part of an older cohort of workers who do not espouse a cutting-edge approach to their work.
Unless they were in elite private schools, in a run-of-the-mill public school, this new generation of graduates were products of a rigid system who are tradition bound.
One of the very first recipients of the so-called “universal basic income” could be a Filipino. He is the one who has no time to diversify his skills and develop the seeds of future employability. A.I. Would displace him so quickly that he would have no clue what hit him.
In today’s labour-starved west, the pressure for degree-granting institutions is more significant to get graduates moving to meet the demand abroad.
As a result, health care workers, teachers, and other professionals are leaving in droves to meet this demand. This situation does not lend to valuing excellence when the goal is to expeditiously churn out more graduates.
Eventually, automation, robots, and algorithms will force these workers to be displaced first. We do not have a long history of skills upgrading once we land a secure job. Our educational background has a narrow training window but is deficient in critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills.
Our ability to think critically and communicate are the antithesis of automation. So in our rush to fill job openings, we are missing out on developing the seeds of future employability and diversification of our skills. Our workers could be the first recipients of the so-called “Universal Basic Income,” (a glorified (un) employment insurance ) now gaining traction in Canada and the U.K.
Education is now experiencing the ills of decades of poor governance, mismanagement, and the ongoing affliction brought on by corruption. Innovation and creativity in every endeavor, including education, are products of a culture of dedicated leadership and a mindset consistent with proven concepts that work. We have cuddled a tumour that has turned to cancer. “THE CHICKENS HAVE NOW COME HOME TO ROOST”******