School Division heads: WB report on low learning rate in PH accurate
FIVE school division superintendents in Pangasinan concurred with the World Bank’s report, stating that the learning poverty in the Philippines was recorded at 91% in 2022.
The steep figure means that, approximately nine out of ten Filipino children aged 10 struggle to read simple text. This was clarified during the Question Hour session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan on October 9, 2023, initiated by Fourth District Board Member Jerry Agerico Rosario.
In attendance were Dr. Fatima Boado of Pangasinan Schools Division I, Assistant Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Rosario Cabrera (representing Dr. Lorna Bugayong of Pangasinan Schools Division II), City Schools Superintendent Dr. Vivian Luz Pagatpatan, Dr. Sheila Maria Primicias, and Dr. Aguedo Fernandez of Alaminos, San Carlos, and Urdaneta, respectively.
They cited intervention programs address the issue even as they confirmed that the World Bank report is accurate and explained that there are contributing factors.
Dr. Boado said SDO 1 Pangasinan plans to return to basics and increase instructional hours for English, especially for students in Grade I, II, and III and pointed out that the decrease in performance could be attributed to the transition from a modular to a traditional classroom-based approach and the Mean Percentage Scores in Mathematics.
Dr. Primicias mentioned the I-REAd program, a reading intervention designed to improve reading skills at different levels in San Carlos, because it’s not only Grade III, there are also non-readers or have low comprehensions even in Junior High School and Senior High School.
Other interventions are RAYS for grades four and six, Libros for Junior High School and Senior High School, Pang Aro for K-3, mother tongue programs, and PagBAsa for Pilipino.
Dr. Fernandez said out of 14,138 elementary-level students in Urdaneta City, only 4,281 can both read and write, and only 5,469 out of 13,629 learners in the junior and senior high school levels possess reading comprehension skills.
Vice Governor Mark Lambino, chairman of the committee on Education, requested the superintendents to provide the committee with copies of the intervention programs they are implementing that will focus on what can be done within households and families.
This will help in creating programs through the committee and with the assistance of Governor Ramon Guico III, who is also an educator. The programs can be promoted across the province, possibly with the support of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office. (Eva Visperas)
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