30% passing grade and still they flunk

Almost all incoming freshmen in public high schools this year need to undergo a year-long program of intensive study to be competent enough to go on to high school, Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus said yesterday.

He said that based on the results of this year’s High School Readiness Test (HSRT), only 0.52 percent of the students who took the test scored higher than 75 percent, the cut-off commonly used in school examinations.

Strictly speaking, "this means that 99.5 percent should undergo a bridge year," De Jesus said, but added that the Department of Education (DepEd) used a cut-off score of 30 percent to determine which students could go on to high school.

Even with the low cut-off, at least half of the 1.5 million to 1.6 million public school students who took the HSRT last May 24 failed to meet the cut-off, which involves correctly answering 27 questions in the 90-item test.

Students who fail the HSRT will undergo a bridge program for one year to improve their "competencies" in three core subjects — Math, English and Science. Public school students who have completed their elementary education are required to take the HSRT.

De Jesus said the DepEd was only prevented from making all incoming high school freshmen undergo the bridge program because public schools lack teachers and other resources to support the program, set to be implemented this year despite the lack of required approval from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

The DepEd has released the results of the HSRT and examinees can check their performance at their respective testing centers.

Education Undersecretary Jose Luis Gascon said the DepED is all set to implement the bridge program despite opposition by various groups of teachers, students and parents.

"It’s all systems go as far as we’re concerned," Gascon said, pointing out that a petition for preliminary injunction filed by the Advocates and Adherents of Social Justice for Schoolteachers (AASJS) before the Court of Appeals is still being processed.

The AASJS said the bridge program imposes a financial burden on parents who are hard-pressed to shoulder an additional year of schooling for their children.

Officials said the miserable performance of incoming high school freshmen in past diagnostic tests is precisely the reason why the DepEd implemented the bridge program.