Marcos wants DepEd to raise Philippine students’ PISA ranking

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos yesterday ordered the Department of Education (DepEd) to double its efforts to improve the Philippines’ performance in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which reported on Dec. 5, 2023 that Filipino 15-year-old students are five to six years behind their foreign peers in learning competencies.

“He was not disappointed (about the PISA result), but he wants us to keep working hard to improve our performance in PISA. Not only in PISA, but the performance of our students as a whole,” DepEd Undersecretary for curriculum and teaching Gina Gonong said during a briefing at Malacañang.

For the second time, the Philippines landed in the bottom 10 out of 81 countries in reading comprehension, mathematics and science, based on the 2022 PISA.

Gonong said government agencies need to collaborate in addressing the nutrition of students, the national learning recovery program and teachers’ welfare among others to raise the quality of student performance and the education sector as a whole.

The PISA, developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, measures the ability of a 15-year-old to use reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.

‘Catch-up Fridays’

Starting today, public school students will spend every Friday enhancing their reading, writing and critical thinking skills and appreciation for values, health and peace education.

In its first 2024 memorandum, DepEd said all public schools would implement “Catch-Up Fridays,” in which reading and writing activities would be held in the morning while values, health and peace education would be taught in the afternoon.

Activities during the program would not be graded as they aim to reinforce learning, DepEd noted.

Each student’s progress would be monitored through self-reflection journals.

Aside from this, DepEd would apply its old programs, including the Read-a-Thon and the Drop Everything and Read or DEAR program.

Vice President Sara Duterte earlier said the new policy seeks to help “non-readers and slow readers.”

Students with normal to advanced reading comprehension skills would be trained in critically analyzing reading materials and writing output, such as books and essays.

Values, health and peace education will be delivered based on monthly themes based on the basic education curriculum, such as respect for life, nationalism, justice, accountability, self-confidence and others.

“The content of any learning area can be used as a springboard for developing the reading skills of learners — Health themes can be integrated into Science to foster a deeper understanding of health-related concepts. Peace Education themes can be integrated into Technology and Livelihood Education to allow learners to explore how technology can be used for conflict resolution, communication, and community building,” DepEd said.

Child abuse hotline

DepEd wants to improve its hotline for child abuse to make it easier to remember and encourage reporting of bullying incidents, a problem that affects students’ performance.

DepEd Undersecretary Michael Poa said Marcos wants to address bullying to improve the Philippines’ PISA ranking.

Bullying was among the factors tied to students’ low scores, along with the use of digital devices, language at home and teachers’ specialization.?

“We are strengthening what we call the child protection committees in schools. With regard to the reporting system, we are continuously improving it. Although we have the Learner Rights and Protection Office, we want to have a hotline that is easier to recall, for example, so children could use it,” Poa said.

Incidents of child abuse may be reported to landline (02) 8632-1372, mobile number 0945 175 9777, email [email protected] or facebook.com/deped.lrpo.

Poa said 152 cases of bullying and other abuses have been endorsed while 209 cases are being monitored. Endorsed cases have been referred to concerned regions and divisions while monitored cases are those that are progressing.

A total of 120 cases have been resolved.

“We are still trying to see if the numbers are improving. If there are only a few calls, you would be happy because the cases of abuse are few. But on the flip side, it is also possible that it is not that effective,” Poa said, noting that students may experience bullying even at home due to social media. — Alexis Romero