TACLOBAN CITY– The Philippines’ “dismal” performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for the year 2022 does not come as a surprise, according to an advocacy group and a former Catholic school head.

Based on the report released on Dec. 5 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Filipino learners fell behind the average in all three assessed domains in mathematics, reading, and science, placing the Philippines at the 75th rank out of 80 participating countries.

“This can be attributed to the lack of substantive measures taken to address the fundamental challenges in the education sector, in addition to the pandemic-related factors,” said Benjo Basas, an educator and national chairperson of Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC).

The 2022 PISA result for the Philippines was similar to 2018, with the country continuing to lag behind in terms of student academic achievement in the same three learning areas.
Monsignor Ramon Stephen Aguilos, the former superintendent of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Palo,Leyte, also saw “multiple reasons that cause such dismal showing” in the PISA ranking of the country.

“Needless to say, it reflects the true state of education in the Philippines. Internal systems should raise rather than lower their standards. We overheard of teachers (and with the concurrence of supervisors) lowering their standards of examination just to let children pass. We also hear of teachers manipulating performance ratings of students even if undeserving, just to ensure zero drop-out rates, and, as a result, these teachers receive bonuses,” Aguilos said.

Aguilos opined that the Philippines “should also learn from the Asian countries that stood tall in the PISA scores — Singapore, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea – occupying the top five positions.”

“If these Asian countries can do it, why can’t we? We should also know why Vietnam, also a neighboring country, outpaced the US in these metrics. What’s in their educational system that brings their students to high levels of academic achievement?” he asked.
“The present DepEd leadership must work five times harder to arrest such a crisis,” Aguilos added.

Rey Garnace, the former campus director of top state-ran Philippine Science High School in Eastern Visayas region, also said that “more reading subjects should be included in the curriculum for teacher education.”

“There should be no mass promotion if the learners cannot read yet and are not ready for the next level. As proved by countries topping PISA, Math and Science subjects are taught in their native tongue in basic education,” he said.
(RONALD O. REYES)

ORMOC CITY– One of Biliran’s most wanted persons was arrested in Culaba town on Wednesday (Dec.6).

The accused, only identified as ‘Cello”, was arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest dated November 21, 2023, and issued by Judge Constantino Esber, executive judge of RTC Branch 37 based Naval, Biliran, for the crime of rape at about 2:45 pm.

The court held no bail for the temporary liberty of the accused.

The accused, who was apprised of his constitutional rights through the Miranda doctrine, is now detained at the Culaba municipal police station. (ROBERT DEJON)

ORMOC CITY– A woman was found dead inside her house in Naval, Biliran on Monday (Dec.4) with her attending physician ruling out any foul play.

The local police identified the dead woman as ‘Jazmine’ who was lying face down inside her house in Barangay P.I.Garcia at about 7:30 am.

The police said that a lodger of the victim reported to the local police revealing that she noticed the victim was already lying face down, and appeared to be lifeless.

The victim was last seen by her neighbors in the afternoon of Sunday December 3 outside her house.

According to Dr. Ralph Bueno, municipal health officer, conducted a post-mortem examination at the scene and according to him, the estimated time of death was around 7 am on Sunday (Dec.3) and concluded that the cause of her death was cerebrovascular accident, or stroke.”
(ROBERT DEJON)