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The Department of Education (DepEd) have launched programs to address the challenges in the quality of basic education as the country’s global ranking in English proficiency further dropped in 2020.
Education Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said that one of the deep reforms they have launched is the “Sulong EduKalidad” last February.
"But quality interventions, the fruit of that takes time. We are determined to make significant strides in the education quality in the near and medium term," he said.
Through the “Sulong EduKalidad” program, DepEd will review the K-12 curriculum, improve learning environments, upskill and reskill teachers, and seek collaboration and support from stakeholders.
According to the international education company Education First (EF) 2020 report released last week, the Philippines dropped 7 places in the English Proficiency Index leaving the country's current ranking to be in 27th place.
For the past years, the Philippines’ ranking has been constantly declining from 13th place in 2016, 15th place in 2017, 14th place in 2018, and 20th place last year.
Although the Philippines is now situated in the 27th place, the country’s English Proficiency is still considered “high” with a score of 562 out of 700 – this means that Filipinos were able to make a presentation at work, understand TV shows, and read newspapers.
Malaluan claimed that part of the declining English proficiency could have been attributed by the late interaction in digital platforms.
"We've also seen our students are able to handle, for example, a simple multiple-choice question but find difficulty in answering open-ended questions," he said.
Malaluan added that there is also a “difficulty in handling questions that are of higher cognitive requirements, as well situational or contextual questions”.
In a 2018 global survey, the Philippines ranked the lowest among 79 countries on reading comprehension.
Photo from ABS-CBN News
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