MEM 643 ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION IN SCHOOLS

FINAL PAPER
CHRISTIE HOPE HERNANDO-ORBISTA MEM-OU-1-1

REACTION ON THE ARTICLE BY ANDREW J. MARASIGAN PUBLISHED AT

PHILSTAR.COM ON JULY 14, 2021, ENTITLED, “DEPED IN DENIAL”

“Three global rating agencies on education – Trends in International

Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Program for International Student
Assessment (PISA) and the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) –
all tell the same story. The three attests that educational standard in the Philippines is
indeed at such a low level that our youth will be unable to compete with their global
peers when they enter the workforce. Although the data used by the World Bank is
three years old, it does not negate the fact that our educational standards are among
the lowest in the world.”

I would like to highlight the paragraph I cited above from the article. Although
World Bank took down the published education report about the poor learning in the
country. Still, we should not take the report as an insult but rather an eye opener to
everyone in the education sector.

We are a country were parents value education as one of the most important
legacies they can impart to their children. They believe that having a better education
opens opportunities that would ensure a good future and eventually lift them out of
poverty. But how can these be on their hands when the government failed to provide
these opportunities to them?

Here I cited issues which are relative to the issues mentioned in the article.
First, the government major structural changes in the basic education system, this
significantly boosted the education expenditure. They view K-12 reforms are an
essential step to improve the global competitiveness of the country and bring the
country up to international standards. But with its first implementation we saw
problems like lack of school buildings and facilities. Another, the bold decision to make
 MEM 643 ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION IN SCHOOLS

education at state universities and colleges free to all which will further boost the
enrollment yet there is still a bigger percentage of out-of-school youth.

Even without the education report of PISA, SEA-PLM, and TIMSS, still there
are criteria and indicators of other rating agencies that we should also be mindful of.
The countries we were being compared to in the Southeast Asia showed bigger
sacrifices like Vietnam, the Ministry of Education had a larger percentage of their
country’s national budget on education. There is also a high rate of their outbound
student mobility, and they are keener in promoting internationalization and even
making English as their second language. Vietnam left the world aghast after their
PISA ranking. Vietnam’s achievement has an effect in its neighboring countries like
the Philippines in comparison with the standards in education.

Just like what an economist once said, “the society never advances as it
recedes on the other”. As to Vietnam’s achievement, the numeracy and literacy skills
of students are high, yet they lack technical skills which are obviously rare to their
graduates. But with our country, we may see a decline in the numeracy and literacy
skills, yet out workers are exceptional when it comes to technical skills as evidenced
in the bigger percentage of Filipino workers abroad. If lifelong learning is to be taken
as an indicator by the rating agencies, we will surely have higher ranking because of
our strong technical workforce.

Now, in a school setting, we see the effect of the afore-mentioned issues. Poor
learning is really evident in schools like in my current station because of many factors
like standards of the curriculum and standardized test, teacher’s personal and
professional attributes, student’s absenteeism, and distance from home-to-school. I
will elaborate how evident these are in schools. First, the standards of the curriculum
and standardized test, as part of the school curriculum development learner’s needs,
abilities, and interest should be taken into consideration. There are learning activities
that is not suited for a school in a mountainous area because of higher demand in
resources like ICT equipment. There should be a standard exam before entering
elementary, junior high school, and senior high school and those who failed the said
tests should undergo a bridge program to enhanced literacy and numeracy skills.
National Achievement Test as the primary indicator of school effectiveness based on
student scores in language, science, and math should be conducted yearly and in a
 MEM 643 ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION IN SCHOOLS

permanent grade level/s only. I remember during my elementary and high school years
I took the NAT 3 times. Secondly, teacher’s personal and professional attributes, there
are teachers who are very out-moded with their teaching styles still stick to the
traditional teaching which the children are not fond of because they prefer video
presentations during discussions, simulations, and experiments. Also, an issue, there
are few teachers who pursue graduate studies and choose to buy diploma just for
promotion purposes and not for the benefit of the students. Third, student’s
absenteeism, this is very alarming because later this will result to high repetition or
dropout rate. Reasons to this absenteeism are poor nutrition, having diseases and
child labor because of severely limited resources of these poor families, education
tends to be less prioritized over more basic needs such as food and shelter. Lastly,
the distance from home-to-school, will later result to dropping out from school and will
eventually add to the cases of out-of-school children. These factors should not be
taken lightly but seriously because these will have a significant effect to the education
and to the economy.

Due to the continuing coronavirus pandemic, schools in our country have

shifted to distance learning, a mix of online classes and printed learning modules.
Based on the article DEPED wanted to migrate to online learning flatform but this will
be unsuccessful. There is already a of lack of ICT equipment in schools, how much
more if provided to a bigger population in every household?

As an educator I am still very hopeful in the improvement of our educational

system. I see bigger chances of the poor family to move out from poverty because of
education and they should be given equitable access to it. If we were to lift the poor
families from poverty, we will all be prouder to say that education is really for all.

CHRISTIE HOPE HERNANDO-ORBISTA

hopehernando27@gmail.com
July 23, 2021

DR. AMELIA BIGLETE

amybiglete2020@gmail.com