THE PHILIPPINES has apparently climbed out of the bottom 10 in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and Education Secretary Sonny Angara sees this as evidence of an education system finally moving in the right direction. That may be encouraging news. But since when did escaping the bottom become our definition of educational excellence?
For years, the Philippines has suffered the embarrassment of ranking among the world’s poorest performers in reading, mathematics and science. Our students have struggled with competencies that should be mastered long before they enter secondary school. Our teachers have battled overcrowded classrooms, inadequate learning materials and overwhelming workloads.
Against this gloomy backdrop, any genuine improvement deserves recognition. But improvement must never be confused with accomplishment.
During the Literacy and Numeracy Expo in Iloilo City yesterday, Secretary Angara spoke enthusiastically about the country’s upward trajectory in PISA, citing international recognition of the Philippines as an “education system on the move.”
But a country can climb several places in international rankings and still leave millions of children unable to comprehend what they read or solve elementary mathematical problems. The true measure of educational success is not how many countries the Philippines has overtaken in a ranking. It is how many Filipino children have overcome illiteracy, innumeracy and the disadvantages that condemn them to lifelong poverty.
Angara said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had instructed the Department of Education to return to the fundamentals: reading, writing and arithmetic. That directive is sensible, even overdue. After all, what good are ambitious educational reforms, sophisticated technologies and impressive academic programs if students cannot master the most basic skills?
Yet the reality is that the government must now mount a major campaign to teach children competencies that the education system should have been delivering all along. This is an indictment of years of institutional neglect, misplaced priorities and inadequate educational investment.
The government’s Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning Program, particularly its provision for additional tutors, offers a practical intervention. But remedial programs cannot become permanent substitutes for a strong, functioning classroom education system.
Equally important is the promise to improve teachers’ working conditions, provide better equipment and expand opportunities for promotion. These commitments must translate into measurable improvements. Teachers cannot be expected to perform miracles while drowning in paperwork, struggling with insufficient resources and carrying responsibilities that extend far beyond teaching. If the government genuinely wants better learning outcomes, it must first create conditions that allow teachers to teach effectively.
Western Visayas, meanwhile, has an important opportunity to demonstrate that literacy and numeracy initiatives showcased during the regional expo should not simply become exhibits of bureaucratic accomplishment. Their effectiveness must be measured by actual improvements in children’s learning, particularly in disadvantaged communities where educational deficiencies are often most severe.
The Philippines should aspire not merely to escape the bottom 10 but to build an education system where every child can read with comprehension, calculate with confidence and think critically. That is the standard against which the Marcos administration’s educational reforms must ultimately be judged.
