For the very first time, mathematics teachers from the city’s primary and secondary schools took the Suken-Japanese Mathematics Certification Program, an international accreditation program on Math proficiency.
At least 3,000 teachers took the exam yesterday at the City Central School, about 73 percent of the city’s total teaching force of 4,300 both from the day and night classes.
City consultant on education Joy Augustus Young said the accreditation will ensure their proficiency in that field of study. And because the city plans to have the teachers take the exam yearly, it will ensure that the teachers will study the subject.
“The benefit is that we’ll know that the teachers are capable...if she has more knowledge, ergo, she can teach better,” Young said.
This year, teachers were made to take examinations for 8th grade to 3rd grade in the Suken exam, which correspond to the lessons taught in the elementary and high schools mathematics curriculum in the Philippines. The Suken exam has 10 levels with level one being the highest.
Last August the teachers took a pre-test to determine which areas he or she needed to study further.
In his letter to Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Young explained that the Suken test is seen worldwide as an indicator of one’s learning in the field of mathematics and is organized in such a way that it can be used in accordance with the participant’s degree of academic development.
While the use of a calculator is allowed, the test does not use multiple choice or fill-in-the-blanks type questions but rather requires the examinee to show the calculation process.
Young admitted that the examination is not necessarily easy for all the teachers, especially to the non-math majors, many of whom teach in elementary schools.
Suken started in 1990 as a Mathematics Ability Test and formally became The Mathematics Certification Institute of Japan two years later. The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture in Japan has authorized the institute to administer the examination around the world and has administered the same test in the United States, Korea, Singapore and Indonesia.
Young said the teachers are very lucky because the city was able to get a huge discount in the examination fee. From the original amount of P1,200 per person, the city only paid P100 each for yesterday’s examination. — Joeberth M. Ocao/BRP