EDCOM 2: Only 200k students retained despite declining performance levels
Only 200,000 of the 24 million students across the country have been retained in their reading levels despite the decline in reading levels, according to the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) on Tuesday.
“There are approximately 200,000 retained students. This means that there are retained students, but a very small number of the 24 million students we have,” said EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark R. Yee. BusinessWorld in the conversation.
“We need to better understand if this is a figure we can trust? Is this a reliable figure that represents all those who are really struggling?” he added.
In its Final Report, the commission found that cross-examination shows that “no knowledge” students increased from 30% in grade 3 to 74% in grade 12.
“The downhill from Grade 3, Grade 6, Grade 10, and Grade 12,” said Mr. Yee.
“People may progress according to the grade level, they continue to be promoted without really having the knowledge or making sure that the skills are really there,” he added.
In terms of reading ability, 88% of students struggle to read at their level at the beginning of the year.
Among junior high school students, 40% to 52% are two grade levels behind in reading, based on the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) test.
“This proves the urgency of addressing mass promotion and the implementation of well-designed interventions to address the literacy gap at secondary level,” EDCOM 2 said in its report.
“Reading and writing is the gateway to learning mathematics, and other skills in all subjects,” he added.
‘The culture of mass mobilization’
A key issue highlighted in the EDCOM 2 report is the country’s populist culture and its relationship to other problems in the education system.
“For us, mass promotion is many things. There is no real policy of DepEd (Department of Education) to automatically promote students, but it is a combination of many things,” said Mr. Yee.
“It’s really about looking at the system as a whole and dealing with all these obstacles that prevent our teachers from being able to support their students properly,” he added.
The autonomy of teachers in determining the promotion of students is greatly influenced by pressure from higher authorities in the school.
“We have also heard in many stories of teachers that they are often blamed by the principal or other colleagues,” said Mr. Yeah. “If they fail any student, they must answer to the principal, to the faculty office why the student had to fail.
“It seems that they have to show that they have done everything and eliminated all the existing support, when in reality there was no support or very little support given to them as teachers,” he added.
DepEd’s policy on grade reform also increases the need to pass all students despite not meeting the expected skills and knowledge.
In the Transmutation Table from DepEd Order No. 8 s. In 2015, the initial range of 60 to 61.59 is changed to 75, or about an increase of 15 points.
“We have been repeating and advocating that it is time to review that policy, maybe it should be completed as soon as possible,” he said. “It gives us a semblance of normalcy, or that everything is fine when in fact it isn’t.”
EDCOM 2 proposes the restructuring of the Result-Based Performance Management System (RPMS) and the Office Performance Commitment and Review Form (OPCRF) to ensure that no incentives are given related to student promotions.
“The performance of the school is linked to the graduation rate, the pass rate, the zero dropout rate, so, everything is connected,” said Mr. Yee.
“As long as we continue to do that, we are actually unintentionally reinforcing mass inflation, which is why our position requires us to review our intentions,” he added.
In January, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers Philippines called for a review of the RPMS following the death of a public school teacher while observing her classroom. – Almira Louise S. Martinez
