Senate panel to tackle education crisis

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate committee on basic education is set to hold an inquiry on the education crisis besetting the country when the 19th Congress opens on July 25, and at the same time review the K-12 program.

The inquiry was prompted by a resolution filed by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who is expected to continue to chair the committee in the incoming Congress, with the aim of enacting amendments to Republic Act 10533 otherwise known as the “Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013” or the K-12 Law.

“The implementation of an education reform as critical as the K-12 Law must be sustained to fully attain its benefits but not without addressing these pressing issues that could compromise the effectiveness of the program and pose as stumbling blocks in providing quality education and achieving global competitiveness,” Gatchalian said in his resolution.

“A comprehensive review and gap analysis of the K-12 Law is vital to identify the issues and challenges in its implementation and utilize them as basis in crafting policy recommendations and strategic solutions, as well as initiating complementary and remedial legislation to further strengthen the law and improve the implementation of the K-12 program,” he said.

He said the policy recommendations as well as complementary and amendatory legislation arising from the inquiry would “strengthen the law and ensure its effective and efficient integration into the Philippine basic education system to provide quality education and achieve global competitiveness.”

The senator said RA 10533 introduced an enhanced program that extends the basic education cycle to include two additional years in the secondary level with the end in view of decongesting the curriculum, providing learners the opportunity to learn the necessary skills to prepare them for higher education or for the labor market, and to comply with the global standards.

Despite the law’s enactment nearly 10 years ago, Filipino learners are lagging, particularly in the case of Grades 6 and 10 students, who garnered a score of 37 and 45 (out of 100), respectively, in the National Achievement Test for school year 2017-18, “displaying low proficiency in their grasp of key subject areas at the basic level.”

Similar results were observed for Grade 12 learners for whom the Department of Education (DepEd) conducted the Basic Education Exit Assessment in SY 2018-19, he said.

For SY 2018-19, the DepEd used the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory tool to measure the reading aptitude of public school learners in English from Grades 4 to 6, pre-testing 3.6 million learners and conducting post-tests on 3.9 million learners.

In the pre-tests conducted, 40 percent of learners were frustrated readers while three percent were identified as non-readers. In the post-tests, the share of frustrated learners declined to 24 percent and non-readers declined to one percent, he said.

“Our Filipino learners performed consistently low in successive global standardized assessments measuring their competency. Based on the latest Programme for International Student Assessment result released on Dec. 3, 2019, the Philippines scored 353 in Mathematics, 357 in Science and 340 in Reading – all below the average of participating Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries,” Gatchalian lamented.

He also cited the 2019 Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics that showed that a majority of Filipino learners in Grade 5 did not meet the proficiency level expected at the end of primary school in Reading, Writing and Mathematics.

Meanwhile, Sen. Loren Legarda stressed the importance of passing a Magna Carta of Private School Teachers to safeguard the rights and welfare of the teaching force in private institutions.

Legarda filed Senate Bill 3, which aims to improve the social and economic status of private school teachers by protecting their rights and providing security of tenure and permanence, which assures the stability of their employment.

The measure also provides guidelines on compensation, leave and retirement benefits, as well as teachers’ organizations.

“We must continue to promote and advance the social, economic and professional status of teachers and non-teaching personnel as they all play an invaluable role in national development,” Legarda said.

The veteran senator intends to push for more measures that will advance the status and boost the morale of teachers both in public and private schools.

RA 4670, or the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, was passed into law in 1966 and has provided guidelines for teachers’ employment, salaries and working conditions.

“The same rights must be given to private school teachers,” she said.