Mark Raymond C.

Ferrer
Section B
The Problems Existing in the Philippine Educational System
For many years, the Philippine educational system has been facing many
problems. These problems are due to the population explosion and globalization.
Another thing is gap existing between the private and the public school systems. In
addition, the students in the Philippines cannot be considered competent due to
different matters, such as, the errors in the textbooks given to the students in the
public school system.
Moreover, the bombardment of things to the students and the abuse of
students and authority by the teachers have been in existence. Another thing is the
recent statement of the Department of Science and Technology Undersecretary
Graciano Yumul Jr. that students in the Philippines cannot pass the global standards
of education. Therefore, there is a need for the reform of the entire educational
system in the Philippines especially in the public school system.
It is true that the Department of Education has been proactive to improve the
quality of education especially in the public school system. The department has
been giving scholarships to teachers who wish to pursue graduate studies and
trainings to enhance the quality of teachers in the public school like the in-service
training of mathematics teachers.
Moreover, the department is having ties with the different universities, like
the University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila University, to train the
teachers for the new curriculum and system.
Aside from that, the internet and computer access are given to schools for
faster researches and access to information by the students. This is due to the IT
revolution of the 21st century and the generation of our students today.
In addition, the government is giving more benefits to teachers such as
allowances and incentives. They sometimes give bonuses for the outstanding
teachers of the different divisions of the country
In contrary of everything, there are more things to be taken into
consideration by the department - abuse by the teachers, lack of facilities, high gap
of competence between the public school students and the private school students,
best teachers of the country leaves because of low salary.
Moreover, there is an abuse happening committed by the teachers. Some
teachers are accused of abuse of authority and sometimes corruption. It is
evidenced by the exposed reports by the investigative journalist like Malou
Mangahas of th Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

Another one is the lack of facilities. According to the DepEd fact sheet, there
is a lack of more than fifteen thousand teachers and the lack of classrooms reaching
more than thirty thousand classrooms.
Furthermore, the existence of high gap of competence between the public
school and the private schools. Most contests that are happening here in the
Philippines are won by the students from the private school unlike before. Also, in
the field of sports the private schools prevails over the public schools. This gives a
notion of incompetence existing in the public school system.
Also, some of our best teachers go out of the country to teach abroad. In
some countries, teachers receive the highest compensation such as Singapore,
South Korea and Japan. And in some cases, they shift into another job with higher
salary. This is the sad story of our teachers in the country, they are educated in the
Philippines but they are not serving their own country.
Aside from the four matters I mentioned earlier, are the errors that exist in
the textbooks given out by the department to the students. Amidst all efforts to
correct the errors, it is still not enough because some teachers are not informed nor
given the corrections. This is the reason why the money used to print the books
goes to waste.
The department commissions authors and publishing houses to provide the
books. This means that it is expected that the department has to check the
correctness of the information that are given to the possible readers of the book.
This will only be a liability of the government since it will be no use at all. According
to the review made by the Philippine Educational Press Association in the book
Asya, there are 431 errors found.
Another thing, the National Book Development Board (NBDB) has said that
there are highly qualified books, however, they are not commissioned by the
department. This is also one of the questionable issues existing in the department.
Equally important issue is the bombarding subjects and schedules in the
schools. According to the study conducted by the University of the Philippines
College of Education, the schedule of the students nowadays could lead to more
stress at an early age. This makes the students to perform less and be less active in
class.
Beyond that, the subjects taught in school are more than what the other
countries have. For instance, in Japan they only have the subjects Nihonggo,
English, Science, Mathematics and Sports. Look where is Japan now, they are one of
the top 20 countries of the world. This means that the government can create less
stress with high mastery of subjects and higher competence.

Amidst of all the efforts made by the government, I always question the
effort they exert. In everything they do there are always questions that they cant
answer. It is true that they give trainings and scholarships but is this enough? They
give benefits and incentives but are the best that they could give? There is always a
question in mind of when will be the educational be the level of the international
scene.
There are many problems arising on our educational system. From our books,
facilities, competence, abuse, schedules, subjects up to the projects they do are
always in question. There is a real call for a reform. Many agencies and other
educational institutions have been criticizing the works of the department.
On the whole, the public educational system needs an entire face-lift. The
government has to face the fact that there are more important problems.
Everything has to be taken into consideration even the tiniest problem. The
government is trying to produce a globally competitive student; however, we should
take these issues as seriously as possible. After all, this needs a helping hand to
improve the quality of education for the next generation of Filipinos.

References

Domingo, T. J. (2012). PHL scientists slam DepEd: Science education should start
early. Makati City: Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Lontoc, F. B. (2007). Straightening out the kinks: A look into the DepEd's textbook
policy. The Forum, 9-12.
Ronda, R. A. (2009, June 5). DepEd Admits New Books Riddles with Errors. The
Philippine Star, pp. 5-6.