current issues in education in the philippines 2022

The Current Education Issues in the Philippines — and How Childhope Rises to the Challenge

• August 25, 2021

Even before COVID-19 struck and caused problems for millions of families, the country’s financial status is one of the top factors that add to the growing education issues in the Philippines. Furthermore, more children, youth, and adults can’t get a leg up and are thus left behind due to unfair access to learning.

Moving forward, such issues can lead to worse long-term effects. Now, we’ll delve deep into the current status and how we can take part in social efforts to help fight these key concerns of our country.

Crisis in Philippine Education: How is It Really?

Filipinos from rich households or living in cities and developed towns have more access to private schools. In contrast, less favored groups are more bound to deal with lack of classrooms, teachers, and means to sustain topnotch learning.

A 2018 study found that a sample number of 15-year-old Filipino students ranked last in reading comprehension out of 79 countries . They also ranked 78 th in science and math. One key insight from this study is it implies those tested mostly came from public schools. Hence, the crisis also lies in the fact that a lot of Filipinos can’t read or do simple math.

Indeed, it’s clear that there is a class divide between rich and poor students in the country. Though this is the case, less developed states can focus on learning if it’s covered in their top concerns. However, the Philippines doesn’t invest on topnotch learning as compared to its neighbor countries. In fact, many public schools lack computers and other tools despite the digital age. Further, a shortfall in the number of public school teachers is also one of the top issues in the country due to their being among the lowest-paid state workers. Aside from that, more than 3 million children, youth, and adults remain unenrolled since the school shutdown.

It goes without saying that having this constant crisis has its long-term effects. These include mis- and disinformation, poor decision-making, and other social concerns.

The Education System in the Philippines

Due to COVID-19, education issues in the Philippines have increased and received new challenges that worsened the current state of the country. With the sudden events brought about by the health crisis, distance learning modes via the internet or TV broadcasts were ordered. Further, a blended learning program was launched in October 2020, which involves online classes, printouts, and lessons broadcast on TV and social platforms. Thus, the new learning pathways rely on students and teachers having access to the internet.

This yet brings another issue in the current system. Millions of Filipinos don’t have access to computers and other digital tools at home to make their blended learning worthwhile. Hence, the value of tech in learning affects many students. Parents’ and guardians’ top concerns with this are:

• Money for mobile load
• Lack of gadget
• Poor internet signal
• Students’ struggle to focus and learn online
• Parents’ lack of knowledge of their kids’ lessons

It’s key to note that equipped schools have more chances to use various ways to deal with the new concerns for remote learning. This further shows the contrasts in resources and training for both K-12 and tertiary level both for private and public schools.

One more thing that can happen is that schools may not be able to impart the most basic skills needed. To add, the current status can affect how tertiary education aims to impart the respect for and duty to knowledge and critical outlook. Before, teachers handled 40 to 60 students. With the current online setup, the quality of learning can be compromised if the class reaches 70 to 80 students.

Data on Students that Have Missed School due to COVID-19

Of the world’s student population, 89% or 1.52 billion are the children and youth out of school due to COVID-19 closures. In the Philippines, close to 4 million students were not able to enroll for this school year, as per the DepEd. With this, the number of out-of-school youth (OSY) continues to grow, making it a serious issue needing to be checked to avoid worse problems in the long run.

List of Issues When it Comes to the Philippines’ Education System

For a brief rundown, let’s list the top education issues in the Philippines:

• Quality – The results of the 2014 National Achievement Test (NAT) and the National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) show that there had been a drop in the status of primary and secondary education.
• Budget – The country remains to have one of the lowest budget allotments to learning among ASEAN countries.
• Cost – There still is a big contrast in learning efforts across various social groups due to the issue of money—having education as a status symbol.
• OSY – The growing rate of OSY becomes daunting due to the adverse effects of COVID-19.
• Mismatch – There is a large sum of people who are jobless or underpaid due to a large mismatch between training and actual jobs.
• Social divide – There is no fair learning access in the country.
• Lack of resources – Large-scale shortfalls in classrooms, teachers, and other tools to sustain sound learning also make up a big issue.

All these add to the big picture of the current system’s growing concerns. Being informed with these is a great first step to know where we can come in and help in our own ways. Before we talk about how you can take part in various efforts to help address these issues, let’s first talk about what quality education is and how we can achieve it.

What Quality Education Means

Now, how do we really define this? For VVOB , it is one that provides all learners with what they need to become economically productive that help lead them to holistic development and sustainable lifestyles. Further, it leads to peaceful and democratic societies and strengthens one’s well-being.

VVOB also lists its 6 dimensions:

• Contextualization and Relevance
• Child-friendly Teaching and Learning
• Sustainability
• Balanced Approach
• Learning Outcomes

Aside from these, it’s also key to set our vision to reach such standards. Read on!

Vision for a Quality Education

Of course, any country would want to build and keep a standard vision for its learning system: one that promotes cultural diversity; is free from bias; offers a safe space and respect for human rights; and forms traits, skills, and talent among others.

With the country’s efforts to address the growing concerns, one key program that is set to come out is the free required education from TESDA with efforts to focus on honing skills, including technical and vocational ones. Also, OSY will be covered in the grants of the CHED.

Students must not take learning for granted. In times of crises and sudden changes, having access to education should be valued. Aside from the fact that it is a main human right, it also impacts the other human rights that we have. Besides, the UN says that when learning systems break, having a sustained state will be far from happening.

How Childhope KalyEskwela Program Deals with Changes

The country rolled out its efforts to help respond to new and sudden changes in learning due to the effects of COVID-19 measures. Here are some of the key ones we can note:

• Continuous learning – Since the future of a state lies on how good the learning system is, the country’s vision for the youth is to adopt new learning paths despite the ongoing threat of COVID-19.
• Action plans – These include boosting the use of special funds to help schools make modules, worksheets, and study guides approved by the DepEd. Also, LGUs and schools can acquire digital tools to help learners as needed.

Now, even with the global health crisis, Childhope Philippines remains true to its cause to help street children:

• Mobile learning – The program provides topnotch access to street children to new learning methods such as non-formal education .
• Access to tools – This is to give out sets of school supplies to help street kids attend and be ready for their remote learning.
• Online learning sessions – These are about Skills for Life, Life Skill Life Goal Planning, Gender Sensitivity, Teenage Pregnancy and Adolescent Reproductive Health.

You may also check out our other programs and projects to see how we help street children fulfill their right to education . You can be a part of these efforts! Read on to know how.

Shed a Light of Hope for Street Children to Reach Their Dreams

Building a system that empowers the youth means helping them reach their full potential. During these times, they need aid from those who can help uphold the rights of the less privileged. These include kids in the streets and their right to attain quality education.

You may hold the power to change lives, one child at a time. Donate or volunteer , and help us help street kids learn and reach their dreams and bring a sense of hope and change toward a bright future. You may also contact us for more details. We’d love to hear from you!

With our aim to reach more people who can help, we’re also in social media! Check out our Facebook page to see latest news on our projects in force.

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Addressing the Philippines’ learning crisis

By Adrian Paul B. Conoza , Special Features Assistant Editor

Business leaders and education experts have largely recognized that education in the Philippines has been facing a lot of difficulties, and the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated such difficulties as schools adopted distanced or ‘blended’ learning in the past two years. The consensus has been that the Philippines — and the world in general — has been facing a “learning crisis,” and it is hoped that the new administration will exert great effort in resolving this another crisis in the country as face-to-face classes have resumed.

To recall, the most recent results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed that 15-year-old students in the Philippines scored lower in reading, mathematics, and science than those in most of the countries and economies that participated in the survey back in 2018.

The Philippines scored the lowest in reading comprehension with a mean score of 340 points, below the survey average of 487 points; while it was the second-lowest in Science at 357 and in Math at 353, below the average of 489 points in both subjects.

Interpreting the findings in context, OECD notes that expenditure per student in the Philippines was the lowest amongst all PISA-participating countries, and the expenditure was 90% lower than the OECD average.

“By comparison, expenditure per student in Indonesia was 83% lower than the OECD average and students there outperformed students in the Philippines, although their scores were still lower than those of students in between 66 and 70 other countries/economies,” the PISA report added.

Fast-forward to the past two years, when the pandemic forced schools to continue their classes virtually and even some to halt their operations, the difficulties in the country’s education system have been found to be much deeper.

On the other hand, based on Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics from 2019, as published in United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) report on the State of Learning Poverty, the country’s learning poverty is at 90.9%.

According to WB, school closures and learning loss during the pandemic can have a long-term negative impact on the current cohort of school children, and these two factors are likely to affect the children’s economic potential and productivity in adulthood.

WB estimated that due to learning losses, an average annual earning per student will decrease by $893 to $1,137, or a loss of present value of individual lifetime earnings by $16,287 to $20,752.

Further on the pandemic’s impacts, WB observed that an additional 1.6 million students were out of school in 2021 as overall basic education enrollment was 6% lower than in 2020. Enrolled children, meanwhile, faced many challenges to effective learning under a distance learning modality; and such challenges have been found greater for lower-income households who have limited resources for better access. This likely explains the high demand for returning to in-person classes, highly driven by lower-income households and women.

Cited by advocacy group Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) in a statement, a survey by Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pamilya ng Pantawid of more than 9,000 parents revealed that they spent 40% more because of distance learning compared to 2020; while a Pulse Asia survey said that one out of four parents think their children are not learning in the remote setup.

More recently, according to UNICEF’s report, jointly published in partnership with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and WB last March, nearly six out of every 10 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries suffering from learning poverty. Translated to the Philippine context, less than 15% of Filipino children are found to be capable of reading a simple text at age 10 — placing the country’s learning poverty somewhere around 85%.

Another highlight of the report confirmed that the Philippines has the longest duration of school closures, as of last February. Year 2020 figures cited by PBEd showed that private school closures reached a total of 1,179.

“Clearly, we need to stop the learning crisis. All sectors of society need to take part in solving this crisis, with the government taking the lead. We must demand for better education, for quality education enables individuals to enjoy strongly rooted and secure lives as reflected in Ambisyon Natin 2040,” PBEd Chairman Ramon del Rosario, Jr. said in a statement.

Sharing in a compilation of insights published on BusinessWorld’s anniversary report last July, Mr. del Rosario noted that the longstanding education crisis is what currently hurdles the country from reaching its goal of slashing Philippine poverty to a single digit, as shared by the current President in his trust state of the nation address.

“We cannot address our learning losses without sufficient resources. Historically, only 3% of our GDP (gross domestic product) has been allotted for the education sector. While the proposed budget for basic education now is at 4.3%, we still do not meet the global standard of 6%. We should spend as much for education as we do for physical infrastructure,” the PBEd chairman continued.

PBEd, together with Philippine Business for Social Progress, Makati Business Club, and Management Association of the Philippines, proposes the following policy directions for improving the country’s education system: (1) bringing all children to quality pre-Kindergarten to Grade 3 education and developmental programs; (2) improving the quality of instruction and teachers with the target that all learners meet basic skills based on international standards; (3) using the lens of lifelong learning in workforce development; (4) fully leveraging private education to better complement delivery of services; and (5) strengthening autonomy, coupled with accountability, of school leaders and local governments.

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With Schools Closed, Covid-19 Deepens a Philippine Education Crisis

The country remains among the few that have not at least partially reopened, sparking worry in a place where many lack a computer or internet access.

By Jason Gutierrez and Dan Bilefsky

MANILA — As jubilant students across the globe trade in online learning for classrooms, millions of children in the Philippines are staying home for the second year in a row because of the pandemic, fanning concerns about a worsening education crisis in a country where access to the internet is uneven.

President Rodrigo Duterte has justified keeping elementary schools and high schools closed by arguing that students and their families need to be protected from the coronavirus. The Philippines has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Asia, with just 16 percent of its population fully inoculated, and Delta variant infections have surged in recent months.

That makes the Philippines, with its roughly 27 million students, one of only a handful of countries that has kept schools fully closed throughout the pandemic, joining Venezuela, according to UNICEF, the United Nations Agency for Children. Other countries that kept schools closed, like Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, have moved to reopen them.

“I cannot gamble on the health of the children,” Mr. Duterte said in June, rejecting recommendations by the health department to reopen schools.

The move — which has kept nearly 2,000 schools closed — has spawned a backlash among parents and students in a sprawling nation with endemic poverty. Many people, particularly in remote and rural areas, do not have access to a computer or the internet at home for online learning.

Iljon Roxas, a high school student stuck at home in Bacoor City, south of Manila, said the monotony of staring at a computer screen over the past year made it difficult to concentrate, and he yearned to return to a real classroom. The fun and joy of learning, he added, had evaporated.

“I miss a lot of things, like bonding with classmates during free time,” said Iljon, 16. “I also miss my teachers, believe it or not. Since last year we have been stuck in front of our screens — you listen, you tune out.”

The crisis in the Philippines comes as countries across the world, including the United States, have been grappling with one of the worst disruptions of public schooling in modern history. Governments have struggled to balance the imperative of health and safety with the public duty to educate children.

Some countries, like Britain, have taken an aggressive approach to keeping schools open, including from late spring into early summer, when the Delta variant surged. While many elementary school students and their teachers did not wear masks, the British government focused instead on other safety measures, such as rapid testing and widespread quarantining.

Where schools have been closed for a long time, such as the Philippines, education experts have expressed concerns that the pandemic has created a “lost generation” of students, buffeted by the limits of remote learning and by overstretched parents struggling to serve as surrogate physics and literature teachers.

Maritess Talic, 46, a mother of two, said she feared her children had barely learned anything during the past year. Ms. Talic, who works part time as a maid, said she and her husband, a construction worker, had scraped together about 5,000 pesos, or about $100, to buy a secondhand computer tablet to share with their children, ages 7 and 9.

But the family — which lives in Imus, a suburb south of Manila — does not have consistent internet access at home. They rely on prepaid internet cards that are constantly running out, sometimes in the middle of her children’s online classes, Ms. Talic said. She has also struggled to teach her children science and math with her limited schooling.

“It is very hard,” she said, adding that the children struggled to share one device. “We can’t even find enough money to pay our electricity bill sometimes, and now we have to also look for extra money to pay for internet cards.”

She said she understood the need to prioritize health ahead of keeping schools opened, but she feared for her children’s future. “The thing is, I don’t think they are learning at all,” she added. “The internet connection is just too slow sometimes.”

Even before the pandemic, the Philippines was facing an education crisis, with overcrowded classrooms, shoddy public school infrastructure and desperately low wages for teachers creating a teacher shortage.

A 2020 World Bank report said the country also suffered from a digital divide. In 2018, it said, about 57 percent of the Philippines’s roughly 23 million households did not have internet access. However, the government has since been working to narrow that gap. Manila City Mayor Francisco Domagoso , said in an interview that last year, City Hall had handed out 130,000 tablets for school children and some 11,000 laptops for teachers.

UNICEF said in an August study that the school closures were especially damaging for vulnerable children, already facing the challenges of poverty and inequality. It called for the phased reopening of schools in the country, starting in low-risk areas and with stringent safety protocols in place.

The school closures have had negative consequences for students, said Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov , UNICEF’s representative in the Philippines. Students have fallen behind and reported mental distress. She also cited a heightened risk of drop outs, child labor and child marriage.

As remote classes resumed this week, Leonor Briones, the education secretary, sought to portray the electronic reopening as a success. She said that about 24 million children, from elementary school to high school, were enrolled in school. But she acknowledged that the enrollment figure included about two million fewer students than last year.

Regina Tolentino, deputy secretary general of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines, which represents college newspaper editors, said the government’s attempt to put a positive spin on the second year of shuttered schools was “delusional.”

With remote learning the only option, she said, poor students were being forced to spend money on computers and internet cards rather than on basic necessities like food. “The government must hear students out and uphold their basic rights to education even during the pandemic,” she said.

But leading doctors and health experts said that, while opening schools was an important aim, health and safety needed to be prioritized.

They pointed out that just over 14 million people in the Philippines were fully vaccinated, well below the government’s initial target of 70 million by the end of the year. Some hospitals were filled to capacity, and scenes of patients receiving oxygen in parking lots had become commonplace.

Dr. Anthony Leachon, a prominent public health expert who was a member of the government’s Covid-19 advisory panel, called for the vaccination of 12 to 17 year-olds to be fast-tracked to help clear the way for schools to be reopened.

“It’s dangerous,” he said, “to reopen schools with the Delta variant strains at the moment.”

Dan Bilefsky is a Canada correspondent for The New York Times, based in Montreal. He was previously based in London, Paris, Prague and New York. He is author of the book "The Last Job," about a gang of aging English thieves called "The Bad Grandpas." More about Dan Bilefsky

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Philippines

Save the Children Philippines’ Statement on Safe Back to School for SY 2022-2023

• Save the Children

Learning must no longer be disrupted – no matter what it takes.

Save the Children Philippines supports the mandate on the formal reopening of schools for School Year 2022-2023, provided that the safety of face-to-face classes are strictly ensured for children and adults, the protection of their mental health and well-being are prioritized, and education systems are further strengthened.

The Philippines is among the last countries to reopen schools since the start of the pandemic. After two and a half years, the impact of the pandemic-induced school closure in the country has become more evident than ever.

The Asian Development Bank reported that students in Developing Asia, including the Philippines, lost over half a year of effective learning on average. [1] Meanwhile, a recent World Bank report revealed that more than 90 percent of Filipino children struggle with reading and understanding simple texts at age 10. [2] This problem is even compounded by the significant number of out-of-school children which is now close to half a million. [3]

Save the Children is committed to help address this education crisis. We call on the Department of Education (DepEd), the Department of Health (DOH), national government agencies, all local government units (LGUs), including the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), and all sectors of society to work together and ensure the following:

Health and safety

• Strictly implement health and safety protocols, ensuring that schools have adequate ventilation, safe spaces, and proper water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities. Students, teachers, and non-teaching personnel should have access to regular testing and vaccination, as applicable.

Protect well-being - Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) must be fully integrated into educational responses. Increased MHPSS provisions for teachers, children and their families should be considered to help protect their wellbeing and economic security. Teachers must also be capacitated in identifying children experiencing violence and/or neglect, and in supporting children’s recovery. Children can also be enrolled in early childhood care and development (ECCD) to help prepare them for formal school.

Strengthen education systems and access to quality and inclusive education - Schools should be able to address educational inequalities and be able to support the specific needs of children most impacted by inequality and discrimination. There should also be referral mechanisms and contingency plans for reclosure and reopening of classes, as well as alternative/ flexible learning options, as necessary. Teachers should also be trained in the assessment of learners' level of learning to inform remedial efforts and provide age-appropriate learning support. Investment on the digital literacy of teachers and students is also critical so they can competently adapt to the ever-changing demands of the global education landscape.

It is imperative, that we all take collective steps to improve the overall quality of education, make up for lost learning, and support disadvantaged students as the school year starts. This includes investing in data and research, and implementing 1) concrete catch-up programs and remedial education, especially in marginalized communities; 2) proactive approaches to reintegrate out-of-school children; 3) accommodation for children with disabilities; and 4) improving teachers’ professional development.

All these initiatives must ensure that the adverse effects of the pandemic do not cross over to the next generation.

Our conviction is clear: Learning must no longer be disrupted.

Save the Children Philippines will continue to work with the DepEd, MBHTE, teachers and the academe, the private sector, and other stakeholders, including parents and children themselves, in improving the competencies and learning outcomes of students, and ensuring that dropouts, and learning gaps and inequality will be addressed.

Every Filipino child, regardless of who, what, and where they are, or whatever their circumstances may be, deserves the right to learn at all times.

We can give them the future they deserve if we work hand-in-hand to get our children safely back to school.

[1]DepEd DOH JMC No. 1 s. 2022. Retrieved from https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/DEPED-DOH-JMC-No.-001-s.-2022.pdf

[1] World Bank. June 23, 2022. Retrieved from https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/e52f55322528903b27f1b7e61238e416-0200022022/original/Learning-poverty-report-2022-06-21-final-V7-0-conferenceEdition.pdf

[1] ADB. https://www.adb.org/outlook?_sm_nck=1%22%20%5Cl%20%22learning-losses ;

[2] World Bank. June 23, 2022. Retrieved from https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/e52f55322528903b27f1b7e61238e416-0200022022/original/Learning-poverty-report-2022-06-21-final-V7-0-conferenceEdition.pdf

[3] https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.UNER?locations=PH

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DepEd lacks 91,000 classrooms for school year 2022-2023

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This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

SOON TO BE OCCUPIED. A file photo of chairs at a public school being readied for the new school year.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) said on Wednesday, August 10, that it lacks around 91,000 classrooms  for school year 2022 to 2023.

DepEd Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III told the House committee on basic education and culture that the figures came from department’s survey conducted among their regional offices.

It was not mentioned whether the data accounts for classrooms needed should schools implement physical distancing in the coming school year.

What’s next?

To address lack of classrooms in time for the opening of classes on August 22, Densing said that the DepEd will implement class shifting schedules and build temporary spaces. 

With such interventions, DepEd said the classroom shortage would go down to 40,000. 

In a joint briefing of the DepEd and Office of the Vice President on Wednesday, DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa said their current data showed that areas in Metro Manila and Calabarzon are still at the student-classroom ratio of 68:1.

“Ang unang strategy natin diyan will be to implement shifting schedules sa kanila. Hopefully, mga dalawang shifts lang. Kung ‘di talaga kaya, doon tayo magtatatlo,” Poa said.

(Our first strategy there will be to implement shifting schedules for them. Hopefully, there would only be two shifts. If not, that’s the time we would have three.)

As for the temporary learning spaces, Densing said DepEdwill partner with the private sector and local government units to use basketball courts and tents as temporary learning spaces.

Each learning space will cost around P180,000, Poa said. 

Densing said the DepEd is “fast-tracking” their strategies to address the potential shortage but stressed that the opening of classes on August 22 would push through.  – Ashley dela Vega and Almira Coleen/Rappler.com

Ashley dela Vega and Almira Coleen are Rappler interns.

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‘The failed system of Philippine education’

It is official. The Second Congressional Commission on Education or EdCom II confirmed the decades-old concern that had prompted its convening: the country faced a “complex, immense, … deeply rooted” education crisis. Providing historical context and copious documentation, detailed in 60 figures and 38 tables developed from official, national, and international sources, the Year One Report underlined its generational character.

The report explicitly connected current problems to those raised over 30 years ago by the First Congressional Commission on Education and education stakeholders. The list covers all levels of the education cycle, including malnutrition among children and inadequate support for early childhood care and development, the medium of instruction in basic education, and the interlinking governance issues among vocational, technical, tertiary, professional, and graduate education.

EdCom II findings, 27 priority recommendations and 40 action points, provide a valuable long view. First, it compels reconsideration of reflex reliance on easy solutions, such as new laws or bigger budgets. Despite many laws and much money invested in the last 50 years, the crisis has persisted and, from the perspective of learning outcome, has arguably aggravated.

Bigger budgets do not always realize better results—because of absorptive capacity, misdirected goals, shoddy implementation. The report is rich with examples, without even focusing on corruption. Government reportedly allocated P12.6 billion from 2018 to 2022 for Kinder to Grade 10 textbooks and other instructional materials, but only obligated P4.5 billion (35.3 percent) and disbursed P952 million (7.5 percent). EdCom II reported that 95 percent of Grade 4 participants in the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study attended schools lacking learning materials in both subjects. Complaining about staff shortage, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) saw its budget rise 633 percent from P4.1 billion to P30.89 billion between 2013-2023 but its plantilla positions increased only 22.7 percent from 543 to 666.

Making new laws is easier than finding new money. When these add new staff or offices, however, they may produce higher costs and heavier work, with more organizational boxes to “integrate,” “synchronize,” “align,” “harmonize,” and “coordinate” toward “cohesive,” “collaborative, “coherent,” ”systems”—terms recurring in the report.

The proliferation of coordinative bodies, such as those resulting from the trifocalization framework divorcing CHEd and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority from the Department of Education, have led to complaints of “uncoordinated,” “mismatched,” “misaligned,” “fragmented,” “disjointed” efforts. EdCom II counted at least 68 national level interagency coordinating bodies established through legislation, agency issuances, and agreements.

The long view also explains the report’s preamble that disclaims any finger-pointing or punitive intent behind its analysis of the education crisis. There is much blame to share. That said, however, the report also stresses the urgency of establishing a robust accountability framework.

Laws regulating the education landscape prescribe explicit, often quantitative targets. A rich municipality may have six child health centers for the same number of children that less-endowed neighbors cover with only one. But a 1990 law mandates at least one center for each barangay. EdCom II reports that only 36 percent of 42,027 barangays are compliant. Despite provisions for their oversight, education institutions have continued to operate through serial failure to shepherd any graduate through the licensure examinations.

Assessing accountability for policy decisions requires more deliberation. Governments exercise the prerogative to select what access, equity, quality, and sustainability goals to pursue in education and the options to hold them in balance. Until 2016, the government invested about 25 percent of the budget in tertiary education, whose benefits tended to benefit private more than public interests. Although K-12 required additional expenses, the tertiary budget increased but supported free education in state and local government institutions rather than the voucher subsidies more carefully designed to target poor students. EdCom II has confirmed predictions that free college would disrupt the market, run into sustainability problems, and undermine the goal of equitable access to quality tertiary education.

EdCom II has identified examples of missed mandatory targets and implementation mistakes, miscues, misalignments. It is also best positioned to determine where responsibility for avoiding them should rest. Left undone, it would be difficult to explain, let alone address, a massive education failure for which no one appears accountable.

—————

Edilberto C. de Jesus is professor emeritus at the Asian Institute of Management.

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Your Inside Look at Building Mathematics Education in the Philippines

Explore international teacher education in the area of daraga through the eyes of alumnus benjamin dickman (ph.d. ’14).

Meet Benjamin Dickman, a mathematics teacher at Manhattan’s Hewitt School and a researcher specializing in problem posing and teacher education. With the support of the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Short-Term Program , sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Dickman traveled over 8,500 miles this summer to lead teacher education programming related to his areas of work, which include mathematical problem solving, problem posing, and educational technology.

Learn more about the  Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Short-Term Program , and find more funding and award opportunities . 

Working with educators for a month in the small municipality of Daraga, Dickman led a multi-day conference and delivered numerous lectures, in addition to participating in projects such as a community garden and the school’s first in-person graduation ceremony since before the pandemic.

“Daraga has limited resources, but uses them optimally,” explains Dickman, who was impressed by the lengths to which educators and students will go to take advantage of short periods of electricity and internet access to share resources. “We have so many resources [in the United States], but too often, we use them sub-optimally.”

Passionate about immersing himself in different international education experiences, Dickman – whose bylines include numerous articles on mathematical instruction – served as a Fulbright Fellow in China in 2009. During his time at TC in the Mathematics Education program, he joined faculty and classmates in Shanghai as a graduate instructor for the “Teaching Mathematics in Diverse Cultures” course in 2014 – a formative experience that fostered Dickman’s connections with faculty like the late Bruce Vogeli ,  J. Philip Smith and Erica Walker , and classmate Liz Brennan (Ph.D. ’15), with whom Dickman still works and who served as a reference writer during the Fulbright DAST application process

It’s this TC “focus on international, multicultural education” and “fostering of ​​long-term professional relationships” that Dickman believes have continued to serve him in his research endeavors – including the latest adventure to the Philippines.

In addition to leveraging an international lens in his research and practice, Dickman supports a thoughtful and structural approach to social-emotional learning (SEL) in his instruction of mathematics at a girls day school in New York. While a relatively common practice in the city and even the school Dickman visited in the Philippines, the framework remains contested in more conservative parts of the United States.

“The idea that students’ well-being was negatively affected during the pandemic was not anything worth objecting to [in Daraga],” explains Dickman, who notes that the country’s approach to social-emotional learning may change, with a new Filipino president assuming office in late June. “SEL is premised on the idea that you’re teaching people and people have social-emotional experiences.”

This – and Dickman’s belief that math is not merely about numbers but rather the people affected by its use and misuse – represent a core part of his ethos in the classroom. Teaching math at a girls school, Dickman emphasizes that barriers to STEM are too often conveyed as individual failures rather than systematic issues.

“When STEM spaces are actively hostile towards learners with certain identities, avoiding these spaces can be a rational decision,” explains Dickman, who notes that this is further compounded by the lack of diversity in traditional curriculum highlighting mathematicians.

“Most [K-12 math learners] can’t name even one woman mathematician and I don’t know how most people can feel welcome [in the field] when that number is perceived as zero,” remarks Dickman, a  recipient of TC’s 2020 Early Career Award.

Systematic implementations are essential to social-emotional learning itself, Dickman says, and tendencies to place burden on historically excluded groups or rely too much on exceptional cases threaten overall success.

As for what’s next, Dickman will begin his seventh year teaching mathematics and engaging in teacher education at The Hewitt School this fall. You can keep up with Dickman’s research and travels on Twitter .  

Tags: Alumni International Education STEM / STEAM Teacher Preparation

Programs: Mathematics Education

Departments: Mathematics, Science & Technology

Published Tuesday, Aug 9, 2022

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Thousands of schools in the Philippines suspend in-person classes due to heat

MANILA – Thousands of schools in the Philippines suspended in-person classes on April 5, the country’s education department said, as parts of the tropical country endured dangerously high temperatures.

The months of March, April and May are typically the hottest and driest in the archipelago nation, and conditions have been exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

Many schools have no air-conditioning, leaving students to swelter in crowded, poorly ventilated classrooms.

“Even my smartest student is not in the mood to answer questions because it’s very hot,” said Ms Mayette Paulino, who teaches a grade two class of around 27 children near Manila.

She said students “feel tired and seem sleepy” as the heat intensified in the afternoon.

The Philippines’ Department of Education has issued an advisory giving school heads the power to decide when to switch to remote learning “in cases of extreme heat and other calamities”.

Official figures for April 5 showed 5,288 schools suspended in-person classes, affecting more than 3.6 million students.

That was higher than the 4,769 schools that closed on April 4.

Some schools have reduced class hours to avoid teaching during the hottest times of the day.

Parent Bheapril Balbin, 37, whose two young children attend a primary school near Manila, supported the decision for students to stay home during the hot weather. “The heat is too much, my children couldn’t take it,” the parent told AFP.

“Some of their classmates got sick; they had a headache because of the extreme heat. My youngest has asthma, so extreme heat is bad for him.”

The heat index was expected to reach the “danger” level of 42 or 43 deg C in several areas of the country on April 5, the state weather forecaster said.

In Manila, the heat index was forecast to hit the “extreme caution” level of up to 40 deg C, when heat cramps and exhaustion are possible.

The country’s heat index measures what a temperature feels like, taking into account humidity.

The actual maximum temperature in Manila on April 5 was 35.5 deg C.

“The heat will get worse because we’re not yet at the peak of the summer season,” Ms Lorie Dela Cruz of the state weather forecaster told AFP, noting that the first half of May is usually the hottest period.

She said the actual temperature was “within the normal range” for this time of year.

Nearly 300 schools in Manila had remote learning on April 5.

The central regions of the main island of Luzon were the hardest hit, with more than 1,600 schools suspending in-person classes.

Save The Children Philippines chief Alberto Muyot said on April 3 that the extreme heat meant “children are simply unable to concentrate in the classroom and their health is also at risk”. AFP

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Philippines: Tuition fee hike moratorium expires in 2024, what happens next

Asia philippines.

What the law says on 'socialised tuition' fee scheme in state colleges and universities

Manila: The mandatory freeze on tuition fee increases in Philippine state universities and colleges (SUCs) is set to expire this year, 2024.

Would this mean a tuition fee hike? It’s unclear at this point.

The five-year moratorium on tuition fee increases in SUC forms part of the transitory provisions of Republic Act 10931 (“Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act”) passed in 2017.

During the pandemic, there were about 1.3 enrollees in SUCs (2020 data), 38.78 per cent of total university population of the Asian country; private higher education institutions had 1.8 million enrollees during the 2019-2020 school year.

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Socialised tuition

Most SUCs are mandated to craft a “socialised tuition” and some sort of financial assistance programme for poor but deserving students.

Under this scheme, students deemed to have financial capacity are required to pay tuition fees in SUCs – the rate varies depending on certain metrics set by each university board.

During a Senate hearing in October, a budget gap amounting to 7 billion pesos ($123.8 million) for SUCs was highlighted. The reason: increased SUC student enrollment beyond the allocated funds.

Dr. Tirso Ronquillo of Batangas State University and the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) noted during the hearing the discrepancies between enrollment projections and budget allocations, and cited the need for “alignment” between SUCs and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

The Senate heard that about 70 per cent of SUCs thought it best to decide on their own and allow so many enrollees in excess of the budget allocated by Congress for free tertiary education per SUC.

It’s unclear why the SUC budget was based on 2022 enrollment instead of the projected post-pandemic SUC population for 2023. In terms of annual breakdown, SUCs faced a deficit of approximately 2.7 billion pesos ($47.76 million) in 2022, rising to over 4.2 billion pesos ($74.3 million) in 2023.

The Senate hearing was also told that while 29 per cent of the SUCs adhered to their budget, 71 per cent of them exceeded their allocation. One of the universities that exceeded its budget is the University of the Philippines (with 17 campuses), which spent Php607 million beyond its 2022 budget, the Senate heard.

This 2024, Philippine media reported that SUCs got a total of 128 billion pesos ($2.26 billion), according to the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA), 19.6 per cent higher than the 107 billion pesos ($1.89 billion) in 2023 and the 100 billion pesos initially earmarked for SUCs in the proposed spending plan for 2024.

Free Wi-Fi at SUCs

A Php2.5 billion ($44.2 million) budget was earmarked for 2024 to fund the free Wi-Fi connectivity in public places and SUCs programme, with a target of 50 broadband sites in 82 provinces, according to the DBM.

Free higher education in the Philippines: What the law says

RA 10931 (Section 4) prescribes free higher education in SUCs and LUCs to “All Filipino students who are either currently enrolled at the time of the effectivity of this Act, or shall enroll at any time thereafter, in courses in pursuance of a bachelor's degree, certificate degree, or any comparable undergraduate degree in other school fees for units enrolled in: Provided, that they pass the entrance examination and other admission and retention requirements of the SUCs and LUCs.”

More importantly, all SUCs and LUCs are mandated to “create a mechanism to enable students with the financial capacity to pay for their education in the SUC and LUC to voluntarily opt out of the tuition and other school fees subsidy or make a contribution to the school”.

Under the same law, “SUCs and LUCs must report the tuition payments and contributions collected from these students to the CHED: Provided, finally, That the amount required to implement the free tuition and other school fees in SUCs and LUCs shall be determined by the respective governing boards of SUCs and LUCs based on the projected number of enrollees for each academic years, which shall be the primary factor in computing the annual proposed budget of SUCs and, in the case of LUCs, the CHED for such purpose.”

“This shall in turn serve as the baseline during the preparation of the annual National Expenditure Program (NEP) by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM)."

Free tuition for TVET post-secondary education

Section 5 of RA 10931 also prescribes free Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in post-secondary technical-vocational institutions (TVIs).

The law states: “All Filipino students who are currently enrolled at the time of the effectivity of this Act, or shall enroll at any time thereafter in any post-secondary TVET leading to non-degree certificate or diploma programs offered by any state-run TVI under the TESDA shall be exempt from paying tuition and other school fees: Provided, That all state-run TVIs shall create a mechanism to enable students with the financial capacity to pay for their education in the TVI to voluntarily opt out of the tuition and other school fees subsidy or make a contribution to the TVI. TVIs must report the tuition payments and contributions collected from these students.”

The amount required to implement the free tuition and other school fees in state-run TVIs shall be determined by the governing board of the TESDA based on the projected number of enrollees for each course, which shall be the primary factor in computing for the annual proposed budget of the TESDA for such purpose. This shall in turn serve as the baseline during the preparation of the annual NEP by the DBM.”

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Hundreds of Philippine schools suspend classes over heat danger

by Cecil MORELLA

Hundreds of schools in the Philippines, including dozens in the capital Manila, suspended in-person classes on Tuesday due to dangerous levels of heat, education officials said.

The country's heat index measures what a temperature feels like, taking into account humidity.

The index was expected to reach the "danger" level of 42 degrees Celsius in Manila on Tuesday and 43C on Wednesday, with similar levels in a dozen other areas of the country, the state weather forecaster said.

The actual highest recorded temperature for the metropolis on Tuesday was 35.7C, below the record of 38.6C reached on May 17, 1915.

Local officials across the main island of Luzon, the central islands, and the southern island of Mindanao suspended in-person classes or shortened school hours to avoid the hottest part of the day, education ministry officials said.

The Department of Education was unable to provide an exact number of schools affected.

March, April and May are typically the driest months of the year for swathes of the tropical country. This year conditions have been exacerbated by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Primary and secondary schools in Quezon, the most populous part of the capital, were ordered to shut while schools in other areas were given the option by local officials to shift to remote learning.

Some schools in Manila also reduced class hours.

A heat index of 42-51C can cause heat cramps and exhaustion, with heat stroke "probable with continued exposure", the weather forecaster said in an advisory.

Heat cramps and heat exhaustion are also possible at 33-41C, according to the forecaster.

The orders affected hundreds of schools in the Mindanao provinces of Cotabato, South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat, as well as the cities of Cotabato, General Santos and Koronadal, Zamboanga regional education ministry spokeswoman Rea Halique told AFP.

Five schools in Mindanao's Zamboanga region also shut schools for the day, though local officials in the area did not recommend the suspension of in-person classes in other schools, the ministry said.

"At the Pagadian City Pilot School one (kindergarten) student and two in the elementary school suffered nosebleeds," Zamboanga regional education ministry official Dahlia Paragas told AFP.

"All of them are back at home in stable condition and were advised to avoid exposure to the sunlight."

Cotabato city experienced the highest heat index in Mindanao, reaching 42C on Monday and Tuesday, the state forecaster reported.

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Philippines Says It Will Not Yield to Submission in Row With 'Patronising' China

Philippines Says It Will Not Yield to Submission in Row With 'Patronising' China

Chinese Coast Guard vessels fire water cannons towards a Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 on its way to a resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, March 5, 2024. REUTERS/Adrian Portugal/ File Photo

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines is not seeking a fight or trouble in the South China Sea but will not be cowed into silence, submission, or subservience, its defence ministry said Friday, in its latest show of defiance in a heated row with China.

Recent Chinese statements show their isolation from the rest of the world on their "illegal and uncivilised activities" in the South China Sea, the Philippine defence ministry said in a statement.

"It also shows the inability of the Chinese government to conduct open, transparent, and legal negotiations. Their repertoire consists only of patronising and, failing that, intimidating smaller countries," the ministry said.

The statement was in response to its Chinese counterpart accusing the Philippines on Thursday of provocations, misinformation and treachery after Manila accused Beijing of aggressive conduct in Manila's exclusive economic zone.

Chinese Defence Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian on Thursday said the Philippines was to blame for the breakdown of relations, demanding its neighbour to cease what it calls were acts of infringement and provocation.

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Thursday upped the stakes in the escalating row, saying his country would implement unspecified countermeasures against "illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous attacks" by China's coastguard. China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea.

The battle of words stems from a series of standoffs near the Second Thomas Shoal during Philippine resupply missions to a group of soldiers posted to guard a decaying warship that was intentionally grounded on a reef 25 years ago to push a sovereignty claim.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Martin Petty)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters .

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