An abrupt drop in math, reading, and science scores in the Philippines that show up in an even short, year-to-year timeframes was seen in internal and external testing. To address the issue, three fresh approaches were identified: length of schooling from K-10 to K-12 system, increasing teaching quality by teachers colleges, and altering English Medium of Instruction to mother tongue instruction.
I would like to quote a 2009 New York Times article that seem to identify the problem that is really associated with the decreasing quality of education in the country.
According to the World Bank, the Philippines spends $138 per student per year. By comparison, Thailand spends $853 per student, Singapore spends $1,800 and Japan spends $5,000. The Philippine government spends 2.19 percent of its budget on education, according to official figures, well short of the 6 percent that educators say is optimal — despite a constitutional mandate to make education a priority. At the start of the decade, educators talked of a radical overhaul of the education system, but the main change since then has been increasingly intense overcrowding, Mr. Luz, of the policy study institute, wrote in a recent paper.
The population boom is a problem the Philippines has not been well-prepared for. Personally, I do not think that the quality of education given to students taking up education has decreased. I believe the same quality as it was in recent years remained the same. However, the decrease in budget as compared to the increasing number of students has immensely affected the quality of education.
As with the use of English as medium of instruction, the older generation (especially those who have educated after the American liberation) have achieved much in terms of academics and career. I, for one, was educated using the English medium in a public school and found myself being able to speak and write using the universal language proficiently. This is another huge issue to tackle, of course.
Going back to the quoted New York Times article in relationship with the K-12 basic education program, I am wondering how K-12, even under the best conditions can make the country more academically competitive. The $138 per student per year figure might be a conservative estimate but nonetheless will show that a general trend of education spending as a percentage of government spending is increased by .03% a year. Present demographic trends have been elevated by 1.42% every year. That is a huge difference, showing that population growth is exceeding educational spending growth by a factor of almost 5.
If that is the case, this means that lengthening the student’s stay in school with the K-12 program only increases the approximated budget for school spending every year. This only worsens the quality since at present, the budget is not even met both by the government and the family of the student. Prolonged secondary might even make the problems worse since increased enrollment can be expected with this program.
I believe that the population increase should be addressed first and foremost to ensure that quality education is provided for Filipinos. The better question is how does the Department of Education go back to the time when teacher quality and length of schooling was the same as today?
Reference:
http://www.comparativist.org/ceshk-2012-does-the-philippines-really-need-k-12/
By: Lani G. Licup | Teacher III | Sta. Rosa Elementary School | Pilar, Bataan
