English a factor in Pinoy students' low PISA scores —DepEd exec

The English language was seen as one of the factors why Filipino students are getting low scores in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018, the Department of Education said Thursday.

But at a public briefing, DepEd Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio clarified that English proficiency is not the sole consideration in improving the quality of education, but a factor because it is the language used in the test.  

"Hindi naman natin masasabing bumaba ang performance, kasi maraming mga kailangan i-consider sa pagpapaangat ng kalidad ng edukasyon." 

To make adjustments regarding the learning approach, he said the DepEd eyes to pattern the questions in classroom and national assessments to that of the PISA questions.

He pointed out that if students are not familiar with the way questions are asked, they will get startled, and the chance of making wrong answers is high.  

"Kasama sa nagiging dahilan ng mababang score ay ang kung hindi ka masyadong familiar sa paraan ng mga pagtatanong ay mabibigla ka at hindi mo agad makukuha 'yung tamang sagot."

San Antonio said that based on DepEd's studies, Philippines' performance and content standards are doing well when compared to the ones in other countries, but its curriculum is "congested" which sometimes lead to students not learning that much.

Thus, the DepEd is planning to boost the students' "foundational competencies," which include reading, writing, mathematics and socio-emotional skills.

Nonetheless, San Antonio said some Filipino students still achieved higher scores than that of scores of students from other countries.

Further, the DepEd observed that those who had high scores were female, and students from private schools achieved high scores. But those from rural areas were somehow left behind.

On the other hand, San Antonio denied observations that the quality of education in the Philippines is "plummeting."

"Naniniwala akong hindi naman ganoon ang reyalidad sa mga nangyayari" (I believe that is not the reality), he said, adding that the government is modernizing school facilities, and integrating education technology in the system.

The Philippines joined the PISA in 2018, but it ranked the lowest in reading comprehension among 79 countries. —LBG, GMA News