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Monday, October 31, 2005
P1.8B earmarked to buy English textbooks: Gullas
The government has earmarked P1.81 billion to cover the “universal procurement” next year of new English textbooks for all public schools in the country, Rep. Eduardo Gullas (Cebu, 1st district) said.
Gullas said the new allotment, contained in the 2006 national budget, will allow the Department of Education to replace old manuals and provide one new English textbook for each student in all 10 public school levels—from Grade 1 to fourth-year high school.
Gullas is confident the new textbook funding will contribute significantly to an improved English instruction and learning in public elementary and high schools.
Gullas said that inadequate English reading and comprehension skills are “factors severely handicapping Filipino students in science and math.”
Results
“Studies have demonstrated that enhanced English proficiency also translates positively into heightened abilities in science and math,” Gullas said.
Gullas is the author of House Bill 2894, which seeks to revitalize English as a medium of instruction in all school levels under a new bilingual program.
Two House committees—on basic education and on higher-technical education—earlier jointly endorsed Gullas’ bill for floor debate and approval.
The latest National Achievement Test (NAT) results, released in May, showed that only 6.59 percent of fourth-year high school students mastered English, that is, with mean scores of 75 to 100 percent.
The same test results also indicated that only 26.41 percent of Grade 6 pupils mastered the language.
The results of the NAT, administered to both public and private school students, also showed that only 1.75 percent and 16.41 percent of graduating high school students mastered science and math, respectively.
Figures
Only 14.75 percent and 30.51 percent of graduating elementary pupils mastered science and math, respectively.
Gullas attributed the deficient English of fresh college graduates to their failed mastery of the language in elementary and high school.
The poor English of college graduates, in turn, has deprived them of good-paying jobs, such as those offered by the booming call center industry, where adequate English comprehension and speaking abilities are a must.
“We’ve actually had call center industry job fairs where only 25 of over 1,000 applicants qualified for a job. Thus, many college graduates have been forced to spend more money for English reinforcement courses just so they may qualify for a call center job,” Gullas lamented. (PR)
(October 31, 2005 issue)
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