The challenge of quality in basic education

Maria Angelica Soriano Soliman

THE shift of focus from access to quality is part of the Department of Education’s Quality Basic Education reform plan and a step towards globalizing the quality of Philippine basic education.

With this, the DepEd issued directives to address the challenge of quality in basic education.

The ongoing interventions of the Department that will improve the quality of learning in public schools include curriculum review, transformation of the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP), proposal to extend the levels of teacher positions, and the Last Mile Schools program.

Reading in English continues to be the weakness of learners, which affects their performance in Science and Math, as the medium of instruction and testing in later grades is English, the DepEd said.

The DepEd’s Curriculum and Instruction strand specifically the Bureau of Curriculum Development (BCD), and the Bureau of Education Assessment (BEA), have been instructed to study further how the choice of language affects test performance of learners.

If we are to continue with English as the language of instruction and testing, then there is a need to strengthen teaching and learning in English.

Concerned offices have also been tasked to ensure that through the curriculum review the foundational competencies of reading and numeracy are clearly articulated, they are not sacrificed by congestion of ancillary competencies.

It was also emphasized that it is at the level of the school and the classroom that quality will ultimately depend.

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The author is Teacher I at Sta. Lucia Elementary School