PISA: Philippines 5 to 6 years behind

MANILA, Philippines — The dismal performance of the Philippines in the 2022

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) indicates that students in
the country are five to six years behind in learning competencies, according to
the Department of Education (DepEd).

“If we follow the computation (of PISA) with caveats, based on the OECD (Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development) with socioeconomically advantaged
students, we can see that (we) are around five to six years behind,” Alexander Sucalit,
officer-in-charge of the DepEd’s Bureau of Education Assessment-Education Research
Division, told reporters.

Based on the PISA report released last Tuesday, the mean scores of countries that participated
in the 2022 PISA were 472 for mathematics, 476 for reading and 485 for science.

The Philippines scored about 120 points less than the average scores in its 2022
assessment: 355 for math, 347 for reading and 373 for science.

This meant that every 20 points lacking from the average represent one year of annual
pace of learning of 15-year-olds in countries that participate in the PISA, according to
the OECD.

“But we have to be cautious in interpreting this because different countries have

different paces of learning, so it’s just an estimate for the participating countries. We
look not only at this figure, but we also look at other factors,” Sucalit explained.

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.

Indicators of the test, however, showed that despite moving up the rank, the
performance of students showed minimal improvement.

Overall, the Philippines achieved a 2.2-percentage point hike in mathematics from 2018 to
2022, 6.9 percent in reading and a 0.8-percent drop in science proficiency.

The PISA, developed by the OECD, measures 15-year-olds’ ability to use their reading,
mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.

Gina Gonong, the DepEd’s undersecretary for curriculum and teaching, expressed
belief that the Philippines’ performance was still “positive,” considering most OECD
countries saw a drop in performance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the country
remained “stagnant” despite difficulties in delivering lessons during the lockdowns.
“Our education system is stable and resilient. Of course, there’s much to be desired.
Maybe, a few more cycles of PISA and we can see improvements,” Gonong said at a
press conference.

She added that while the Philippines aims to be a top performer in the PISA, reaching
the rank of top performers like Singapore would take time, considering that education
reforms are still being rolled out to respond to dismal assessments.

“Maybe, working toward matching the scores of Southeast Asian countries is more
realistic in the coming years… Maybe, 2029 onwards,” the DepEd official said.

Amid these developments, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte
yesterday admitted that the 2022 PISA results “bear uncomfortable truth,” but it should
be a jump-off point for the country’s education system to work on its strengths and
weaknesses.

“The PISA results are not merely a reflection of our education system. It is a mirror
reflecting our collective efforts, investments and most importantly, our commitment to
education and the future we envision for our children,” Duterte said in a statement.

“As such, this is a call to action, a call to our collective responsibility as a nation. I call
on everyone to pull our efforts together for a more resilient MATATAG education
system, an education system that aims to improve learning outcomes, prioritize student
and teacher well-being, and promote accountability to close remaining disparities,” she
added.

Under Duterte, the DepEd has implemented sweeping reforms to improve students’
performance in mathematics, science and reading comprehension despite calls from
education sector stakeholders to implement policies where experts have been
consulted.

This includes “Catch-up Fridays” in all public schools, where starting next year, students
will spend Fridays mastering reading comprehension and critical thinking, reducing the
traditional learning delivery for students by one day.

Much work needed

Much work needs to be done as the country’s education system is in its worst state, the
Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) said following the release of the 2022 PISA.

The poor performance of Filipino students is not just a problem of the education sector,
but of the entire country, according to the PBEd.

It said the weakness of the basic education system would eventually translate into
weakness of the workforce, which, in turn, would affect the productivity and key source
of economic growth and competitiveness.
“A crisis of this magnitude requires swift action and great effort from all sectors. As the
voice of business in education reform, we hope to rally once more our partners in the
industry, government and academe to take action for education – through the window of
opportunity that we have in the ongoing work of the Second Congressional Commission
on Education,” the group said.

“Nevertheless, we welcome our continuous participation in large-scale international

learning assessments as this provides us the measurement of the impact of the
pandemic on learning. Efforts must also be made to use this assessment as guidance to
improve our current situation and see the value of making data-driven decisions in
education governance,” it added.

The PBEd said the latest PISA results “show the dire need of Filipino learners of our full
support.”

Pandemic recovery
The government should not lose the urgency in stemming the country’s education crisis
and accelerating learning recovery despite a slight improvement in the Philippines’
average performance in the 2022 PISA, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said yesterday.

Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on basic education, said there was a
slight improvement of +2.66 points in the country’s average performance in the 2022
PISA.

“We must continue to focus on the recovery of the education sector from the COVID-19
pandemic that caused the crisis. We still have many reforms to promote to ensure
quality education for every Filipino youth,” he added.

Analysis of learner-level data by the OECD revealed that increases in reading and math
scores and the decrease in the science score among Filipino learners are not
statistically significant.

While the 2022 PISA results suggested that the learners did not regress despite the
COVID-19 pandemic, Gatchalian emphasized that the changes in scores were
insignificant.

Among the senator’s proposed next steps are the intensification of the DepEd’s learning
recovery programs and the enactment of Senate Bill 1604, or the ARAL Program Act.

He has been advocating for the swift passage of the ARAL Bill, which the Senate has
already approved on third and final reading last March.

The proposed measure seeks to address pandemic-related learning loss and ensure
that learners have access to well-designed remediation plans.
Gatchalian is eyeing a budget of P10 billion for the rollout of academic recovery.

Help from CHED

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) extended its hand to the DepEd to help
improve students’ performance in large-scale international assessments like the PISA.

“More importantly, we want to realize the national education vision laid out in the
Philippine Development Plan (2023-2028) in order to ensure that all Filipinos are able to
realize their full potential to keep pace with the envisioned socioeconomic
transformation,” CHED Chairman Prospero de Vera III said in a statement.

Among the efforts that CHED would extend to the DepEd is to engage colleges and
universities whose teacher programs are centers of excellence or development to study
details of country reports to provide solutions for the DepEd.

ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro yesterday underscored the need to raise
the budget for education as she lamented the “dismal performance” of Filipino students
in the 2022 PISA.

In a statement, Castro said the country’s performance in reading, mathematics and

science was “about the same” as in 2018, when it ranked lowest in those subjects
among 79 participating countries.

This only means that the programs implemented by the DepEd “from then till now are
ineffective and (have) not addressed the learning crisis,” according to the lawmaker.

“It also highlights the dire need to increase the budget of the education system of the
country to at least six percent of our gross domestic product, with a thrust for building
more classrooms, hiring more teachers and increasing their salaries as well as adopting
a curriculum that would make learning easier for students and more attuned to the
Philippine situation,” she said. – Janvic Mateo, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Sheila
Crisostomo
What is the meaning of charter change in the Philippines?
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Constitutional reform in the Philippines, commonly referred to as charter change or

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What you need to know about

Charter Change
San Miguel (IPA: [sɐn mɪ'gɛl]), officially the Municipality of San Miguel (Waray: Bungto han San
Miguel; Tagalog: Bayan ng San Miguel), is a 4th class municipality in
the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 19,753
people.[3]
On November 30, 2018, a two-day music & arts festival was held in Guinciaman farm. The "For the
Love of Leyte" included local bands, such as Ben&Ben and Itchyworms, and international musicians
alongside an immersive program of music, art, and workshops. The movement was to light the
talents of the region, both during the music festival and through the long-term initiatives on the
island.

History[edit]
According to the manuscript written by Lorenzo Babula, one of the old town executives of this
municipality, the first people were only few then so their homes were scattered in the forests where
they tilled land for subsistence. Later, some settled along the seashore and they fished for food and
as a means of livelihood.
As time went on, many of them lived in a place called "Sabang" which means mouth of the river then
later it became a small barrio. This was the period when the "Moros" from Jolo who were pirates
forced women to go with them to Mindanao so they couldbe sold to their "datu" or ruler as cooks or
laundrywomen.
Consolidation to Alangalang[edit]
In 1903, San Miguel was consolidated to Alangalang and thus became its barangay but was
subsequently reversed by the Governor General in 1909 through Executive Order 81. [5] [6]
World War II[edit]
On 27 October 1944, American and Filipino forces captured San Miguel from the 14th Area Army of
the Imperial Japanese Army under the command of Tomoyuki Yamashita. They proceeded to
advance towards Barugo on their way towards the main headquarters at Carigara.

Geography[edit]
Barangays[edit]
San Miguel is politically subdivided into 21 barangays. [7] Each barangay consists of puroks and
some have sitios.

 Bagacay
 Bahay
 Bairan
 Cabatianuhan
 Canap
 Capilihan
 Caraycaray
 Libtong (East Poblacion)
 Guinciaman
 Impo
 Kinalumsan
 Lukay
 Malaguinabot
 Malpag
 Mawodpawod
 Patong
 Pinarigusan
 San Andres
 Santa Cruz
 Santol
 Cayare (West Poblacion)

In the 2020 census, the population of San Miguel, Leyte, was 19,753 people, with a density of 140
inhabitants per square kilometre or 360 inhabitants per square mile.