THE Department of Education (DepEd) recognizes the urgency of addressing issues and gaps in attaining quality basic education in the Philippines, following the country's poor ranking in reading comprehension in an international study.
DepEd, on Wednesday, December 4, issued a statement following the result of the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) Survey, wherein the Philippines ranked low in reading comprehension, mathematics, and science.
According to the survey, the Philippines scored 340 points in reading comprehension. The country is also second-lowest in mathematics with 353 points and science with 357 points. It is below the 487 point-average for reading, while 489 for mathematics and science.
A total of 79 countries and economies participated in the 2018 Pisa Survey, conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental economic organization.
OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
"With the Pisa results also reflecting the learners' performance in the National Achievement Test, DepEd recognizes the urgency of addressing issues and gaps in attaining quality of basic education in the Philippines," the agency said in a statement.
DepeEd said the Philippines joined the survey in 2018 "as part of the Quality Basic Education reform plan and a step towards globalizing the quality of Philippine basic education."
"By participating in Pisa, we will be able to establish our baseline in relation to global standards, and benchmark the effectiveness of our reforms moving forward," the agency said.
DepEd said the Pisa results, along with its own assessments and studies, will be the agency's reference in policy formulation, planning and programming.
DepEd said it will lead its effort for quality basic education through its Sulong Edukalidad program by implementing aggressive reforms in four key areas: K to 12 review and updating; Improvement of learning facilities; Teachers and school heads' upskilling and reskilling through a transformed professional development program; and engagement of all stakeholders for support and collaboration.
Sulong EduKalidad is a DepEd program aiming to improve the basic education.
Meanwhile, the Pisa 2018 tested around 600,000 15-year-old students, wherein the main focus was on reading, with most students doing the test on computers.
OECD said that most countries, particularly in the developed world, have seen little improvement in their performances over the past decade, even though spending on schooling increased by 15 percent over the same period.
In reading, Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang (China), together with Singapore, scored significantly higher than other countries, while the top OECD countries were Estonia, Canada, Finland and Ireland.
"Without the right education, young people will languish on the margins of society, unable to deal with the challenges of the future world of work, and inequality will continue to rise," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said in a press release.