Thursday, December 28, 2017

Titles and brief synopsis of professional readings and references

Problems and Issues in Philippine Education
By : Jerry Claire
I was watching a commercial in Knowledge Channel in Sky Cable long time ago regarding the state of Philippine education. According to the commercial, the country is 2nd to the last in the South-East Asian region in terms of the quality of education. This is embarrassing to think that some of the best educational institutions in the region are in the Philippines. But despite these, why is it that the Philippines is lagging behind its neighbors? Is there something wrong with our state of education? If you ask our students even you are going to conduct a survey, many will agree that it is really the quality of education is to blame. Many felt that the curriculum set by the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is not enough to let our students to be globally competitive. Some said that some subjects and even the curriculum are lacking. For example, Mathematics and Science, both are the bulk of most of the educational institution in different countries. But in our country and in our school, many said that these subjects should be taught comprehensively and intensively because this will serve as the backbone of the country’s development and of our school in the near future. This is why other Asian countries outpaced the Philippines in terms of economical and industrial growth because these countries invested in the fields of Mathematics and Sciences. Another problem pestering the quality of Philippine education and in schools is the quality and proficiency of the teachers. According to a recent news article, Filipino teachers lack proficiency in English, Science and Mathematics. Many said that these areas should have been trained comprehensively since as teachers of these subjects, should be able to teach the students with a more quality for future growth. But with what I see and what is the reality, we, teachers have problems of our own. One example, and the most obvious, is the low salary and terrible working condition. Many of us opt to have “other odd jobs ” during class that sometimes the teacher simply forgets to teach but mainly focuses on how to let both ends meet. But who can blame for our meager salaries of around 10000-15000 pesos, plus deductible, who can a teacher provide for his/her family? And with the rising cost of living, these figures are not enough. For example, many of our teachers in the school is doing direct selling of different products if not using the situation of other teachers whose salary is not enough to send to school her children by letting them borrow money with a higher interest rate. This resulted to more debts for the teacher that she cannot pay for it on time thus extending other loans to other institutions in order to cope up for everyday living. One more thing is the ration of teachers to students. In a typical public school, in every one teacher there are60-70 students in a class! In addition, the poorly ventilated and dilapidated classrooms that adds up to the worsening situation of both the teacher and student inside these classrooms. The school facilities can also be a factor of the problem. The Philippines, both in private and public, lacks sophisticated laboratories and facilities to cater the needs of the students. For example, many public schools are still lacking the basic computer laboratories and it is so ironic that computer nowadays, computer education is crucial for future Computer Studies student. Without proper training in computer, how can a student be competitive and computer literate?
Lastly, a common problem of our Philippine education is the rising cost of sending a child to school. Private schools charges skyrocketing tuition and miscellaneous fees to a student that parents are having a hard time to cope with the rising cost of education. Even sending a child in a public school doesn’t fare better since even the poorest of the poor cannot afford to send a child in school. I remember vividly a story of a public schoolteacher with a pupil of him. He said that this student was so poor that teachers pay for everything so she can go to school. The teachers don’t mind this sacrifice because the student is so bright and intelligent. She never went to college after high school since she cannot really afford it anymore. What saddened the teachers is that this student passed UP but with no scholarship. Right now, many see education not as necessity but a luxury they cannot afford. The state of Philippine education is indeed sad and disheartening. We
probably all asking who’s to blame for all this mess. But we cannot simply point finger since we all have responsibilities to solve these problem. The government tries its best to give the country and it seemed not enough. But we should not blame the government entirely since it is just not the government’s problems. It is the problem of each and every one of us.
If we want the highest quality of education in the country, we should work together to solve this problem. Solutions DepEd mentions such interventions as the new curriculum, education service contracting, multi-shift classroom policy, library hubs, early childhood education, madrasah education, inclusive education, alternative learning system, school feeding, Every Child a Reader Program (ECARP), competency-based teacher assessment standards, computerization, Schools First, Brigada Eskwela, Sagip Eskwela, Adopt-a-School, Oplan Balik Eskwela,and the Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA).The first thing to be creative about is the nature of the classroom itself. Why, in this age of cellphones, computers, and television, do we need to have classrooms at all? Obviously, because interacting with the teacher is better than just using or learning with the use of technology. That is undeniable, but we can be creative about the length of time children have to be inside a classroom.








Issues, concern, and Problem of the Philippine education
Synopsis

Introducation:

There are a lot of problems and concerns face by any institution that has connection to Philippine education. One of the challenging problem of the Philippine education is not satisfying mean average on National Achievement Test and National Career and Aptitude Exam. According on Dr. Soliven on one of his presentation the result of NAT (2004) reflect that student are not acquiring the basic thing or ideas that they must acquire. The score of NAT during that time was devastating only 0.64% scored 75% or better. It means that out of 1.2 million examinees only 8,000 students get a passing score and above. This score says a lot of thing to the kind of quality of education that our country offers. The score on NAT during indicate that student doesn’t acquire the necessary knowledge and skills that must gain. To issues about Philippine education is the affordability of it. One of the article I read stated that only students form w well of family proceed and pursue tertiary education. This means that not all children can afford to go to college so this is contrary to the statement that in the Philippines education is for all.

Summary of Discussion:

On cities with high population, congestion, lack of learning materials, lack of teacher and good facilities are usual situation. These things are probably the reasons why student doesn’t get quality education. Lack of disaster risk preparedness is one of the issues that government must give attention. In times of calamities school are usually flooded and damaged that result to lost of important files and damaged on infrastructure. The best example of it is what happened to Tacloban and some part of Leyte during typhoon Yolanda it took a lot of time before the regular life of people their came back. According to an article in rappler.com 3,200 public schools were destroyed in Leyte Samar almost 90% of school building have been damage and only 30% was completed as of 2016. Corruption in Philippine education is also sizzling issues, money is important for any institution it maybe use for improvement and enhancement of facilities, material, building more infrastructure and supporting student who are not capable of providing their needs in pursuing their studies. This money only goes to the pocket of corrupt officials of the government instead of using this money to enhance quality education. There is only limited budget allotted for education in the Philippines and it’s the lowest among countries in South East. Low budget for education probably is because our country doesn’t have that much income to support the needs of our country especially in education but this is also the reason to some problem in education such as lack of equipment and materials necessary for teaching and learning process. Another is the increase number of dropouts. Statistics conclude that only half of graduate proceed to college. For example in Batasan hills out of 2,600graduates from high school only 89 enrolled on the following year. Another issues is teacher mismatch  because of lack of teachers, government and other schools hired teachers who are not fitted on certain subject matter and they are not equip in teaching learning process. 

In the first question we stated different problems and issues faced by Philippine education. Those problems have some effects to the learners. First of it is wrong attitude of the students towards education. Lack of learning material and facilities result student not to get the proper information that they must have. It may cause them to talk with their seatmates instead of listening to their teacher and focusing to the lesson. Another is not enough equipment such as projector, computer, science laboratory, speak laboratory and others. We all know that student today is in 21st century this  means that they are more motivated to learn using new technology and they want to explore new things by their own teachers must adapt to the kind of learners that they have and they must consider that lack of facilities will hinder the progress in education. Student may also have the wrong connotation that learning is boring thing to do.
                  
   Another hot issue is lack of disaster risk preparedness. Student safety are at risk because we are not that much prepared in times of calamities that may result to more casualties. Late announcement and improper disaster management is resulting more damage specially in learning facilities.
                   
    The long term effect of those problems are, first student are not ready to be employed. The skills and knowledge that some big company and employer is looking for doesn’t manifest to the kind of graduates that our educational sector is producing.  Being globally competitive of the workers is really important especially for the whole economy of our country since OFW are one of the largest income provider in our country. We are living in a globalize world those people who are not able to adapt to change will be left out.
           
If the problems stated at the first question will continue to exist. The quality of education here in the Philippines will be at risk. Education system will just create low salary workers and not an inventor or high salary worker. If this will happen it will result to further chaos like increase of crimes since many can’t provide for the needs of their family. Unplanned family planning that will result to more dependent children and sooner may result to the fall of our economy. The corruption in Philippine education can’t be put a side it is the cause why there are problem on lack of learning materials, facilities ,better infrastructure that accommodate more students and scholarship for more student. Those student who have perseverance to pursue their studies doesn’t given chance to enhance their knowledge and skills because of the corruption of those government officials.

In conclusion education in the Philippines face a lot of issues and problems that must address as soon as possible 


Reflection:

                         As I read articles about the issues, problems and concerns face by Philippine education I become devastated and the reality broke my heart. Imagine there are lot of student who doesn’t finish their studies and number of drop out is increasing every year level. Education is important for every human being especially in Filipino culture. Yes our country are known for its high literacy rate but are we contented on it. There are lots of students from remote area who still have a hard time going to school.  Some of them need to cross over the mountains and the river just to go to school and as a citizen of the republic of the Philippines what are we doing on problem like this. There are lack of school facilities and equipment like chairs, books, laboratory, decent comfort room, projector and others. Probably we are too much in love for the lives we have here in urban cities and we neglect the needs of our countrymen in other places.

Department of education is also facing the challenge of producing globally competitive workers. In the near future connection around the world will be faster and wider for this reason our workers should have higher level of knowledge and skills.  ASEAN integration is one of the reason why our government need to impose k-12. It is one of the preparation of our country to achieve the aim of Southeast Asian Nation. Aside of it there are also the threat of terrorism and other natural calamities like earthquake, and typhoon that can hinder educations success in some other area.

I realize that I am really blessed because I graduate in a school that is well ventilated and complete in facilities. There is a great challenge upon my shoulders, knowing the current situation of education here in the Philippines increase my passion to teach the next generation. The issues that I learn from this article will be my inspiration to be a good and effective teacher so I can help my community to prosper.  I will make sure that I will help not enable anyone to put our country into shame.



            

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