EDITORIAL - Crisis in education

We’ve known for some time that the quality of Philippine education has steadily deteriorated. But it was still appalling to learn the results of the achievement tests last year for primary and secondary school students. The National Elementary Achievement Test (NEAT) and National Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT) for 2000-2001 were the last; Education Secretary Raul Roco had scrapped the diagnostic exams after seeing the questions and the results.

Reports said that for NEAT, the examineesí average score in both mathematics and science was a disheartening 49.75 percent. For English it was a dismal 47.70 percent. That was a minor improvement from schoolyear 1993-1994 when NEAT was first administered; the mean score for English back then was 38.98 percent. High school students fared little better. The average percentage score for science was 45.68; for math, 51.83; and for English, 51.

New diagnostic exams will be administered next month. The exams will help school administrators determine the weaknesses of their students. Will knowing the weaknesses, however, make a difference in the quality of education? The problems besetting the countryís public education system have become so serious they seem insurmountable. Despite getting the biggest chunk of the national budget after debt servicing, the education system continues to suffer from an acute shortage of school buildings, classrooms, textbooks and other school supplies. Textbook procurement is so riddled with corruption that students end up using books that are substandard in everything, including content. Most of the best minds of the nation see no future in education and pursue better-paying careers, or else work for private schools that pay well. Teachers prefer to work as maids overseas. The shortage of teachers is so acute that even those who are not qualified are hired, thus worsening the quality of education.

Already tests show that Filipino students are lagging behind their counterparts abroad, while Filipino workers are losing what was once their big edge over their neighbors – English proficiency. This is a crisis whose impact is not glaringly evident, but its dire consequences for the nation will be long-term and difficult to reverse. If our leaders care for the nationís future, they must act decisively now.