After five elementary public schools and a national high school in Cebu’s third district were ranked as the worst performing schools in the country, Rep. Pablo John Garcia called for an education summit to discuss measures to arrest the decline of education standards in the said district.
Garcia will invite top officials of the Department of Education in the region and heads of schools in his district to formulate policies and draw up concrete programs to improve the performance of the schools.
Three of the 10 lowest performing sixth graders in the English component of the National Achievement Test for school year 2006-2007 were from Loay Elementary School in Toledo City and Tangub and Anislag Elementary Schools in Pinamungajan.
Grade three pupils in Magcalape and Lunas Elementary Schools in Asturias had some of the lowest scores in Reading in the same test. While second-year students of the Pinamungajan National High School were among the ten worst performers in the NAT.
Garcia said he is prepared to devote a substantial portion of his development fund to a program called “Primero and Tersero”, wherein teachers and school heads whose students show marked improvement in test scores will be rewarded with cash, educational tours and study grants.
The legislator added that during the summit, he will suggest to officials a comprehensive program that will highlight teacher training and their regular retooling in techniques in the teaching of English, Math and Science.
A benchmarking of the schools’ performance in the district shall also be suggested to allow educators and local officials to properly monitor them as well as their needs.
As for the teacher training program, Garcia said that he will tap the expertise and services of top educators in Cebu’s colleges and universities, to give intensive training to teachers in the areas of English, Math and Science. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/BRP