Teaching the choirs of the new generation
There were two main messages that came out of the first UNESCO sponsored media breakfast forum on education last Thursday and presided over by Ambassador Precious Soliven. The first point was made by Sen. Ed Angara who lamented our continuing decline in competitiveness because we have neglected the need to properly teach science and math.
That’s so true. Intel officials cited the importance
The second point was made by Education Secretary Jesli Lapus and supported by CHED Commissioner Dr. Nona Ricafort. Public education is not providing enough employable skills to our people, specially in the light of the notoriously high dropout rate. Worse, even for those who manage to stay within the educational system, students in public schools continued to score low in the National Achievement Test (NAT) administered by the Department of Education (DepEd).
While Sen. Angara’s concern calls for a solid commitment to a long term strategy in support of improved teaching of science and math, the good news with regard to Secretary Lapus’ concern is that beginning this school year they are starting something new in the curricula of public high schools to address employability.
DepEd and TESDA have jointly developed a competency-based high school curricula for 18 priority subject areas to be initially implemented in selected tech-voc schools this June. The subject areas for training include animal production, agricultural crop production, horticulture, fish capture, aqua culture, food processing, auto servicing, carpentry, technical drawing/drafting, building wiring installation, consumer electrical servicing, shielded metal arc welding, furniture and cabinet making, auto servicing, machining which include metalcraft and welding.
Secretary Lapus explained that they are launching this innovation to provide our high school students the skills they need to get a job whether or not they finish a college degree. I guess this approach will give formal education some relevance to the masa in the sense that even if they drop out or fail to go to college, they will already have skills that will enable them to earn a living. This is all the more significant because less than half of those entering grade one stay on within the system to get a high school diploma.
Secretary Lapus said the DepEd is initially targeting 140 high schools where the strengthened technical-vocational education program will be implemented. From the initial 140 schools, DepEd expects to cover 261 technical-vocational schools nationwide by school year 2009-2010.
Introducing tech-voc does not however mean DepEd is giving up on improving the quality of teaching the regular curriculum. Jesli is very concerned that tests show how badly pupils today are doing in the basic subjects. The NAT results for Grade 6 pupils and fourth-year high-school students in school year 2005-2006 definitely reflected a declining education performance of the students in the country.
Grade 6 pupils averaged an overall achievement rate of only 54.5 percent while fourth-year high-school students were worse off with only 44.3 percent. The achievement rate of the Grade 6 pupils was lower by four percentage points, from 58.7 percent, the previous year. Fourth-year high-school students fell two points lower from their performance the previous year, at 46.8 percent.
We have gone this low because education has not been given the top priority and attention it needs. There seems to be an all out effort now with Secretary Lapus to catch up. But the questions are, how long do we have to wait to see results and will he have enough time to do what he should before he bows out in 2010?
Teacher recruitment and training alone should be more than challenging. Everything starts with the teacher. They can have classes under the mango tree but if the teacher is good, the children will learn something. Jesli complains that even with teacher education, the colleges are not producing the kind of teachers they need. Hence, you have the anomaly of a physical education teacher teaching physics.
But unless we are able to provide quality education for our children, the future will remain bleak for our poverty stricken families and that will drag the whole nation down. Unless we are able to make our people feel that taking the time to go to school is a worthwhile investment, many will opt out of the system.
Government through its agencies like CHED also has the obligation to make sure our people are getting what they are paying for when they enroll in courses like nursing. Because CHED has been politicized, there are too many diploma mills being allowed to operate despite a track record of failure in professional board examinations. Other than nursing schools, our maritime schools also have the reputation of being rip-offs.
If we want to cut down the number of unemployed and underemployed, the educational system must produce the kind and quality of graduates that are needed by private industry. Labor department officials have often observed that there are thousands of jobs being created by the economy but these jobs cannot be matched with available manpower.
The economy requires more engineers that our schools can produce. There are too many students taking up useless courses like mass communication and we already have too many lawyers too. The Supreme Court should also go after fly by night law schools and bring up the passing rate in the bar exams.
The positive impression was made by the education officials at the Forum that while the problems they face are daunting, they now have innovative responses starting this school year. The question now is, will they be able to sustain it to produce measurable results?
Foreign investors
As we have indicated some weeks ago, this problem with political killings/disappearances is starting to affect the investment climate. Late last week, foreign businessmen warned that the rising number of political killings could discourage them from pouring more investments in the country. Robert Sears, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce, condemned the killings, calling them unacceptable.
The way the business sector views it is really very simple. If the government through the police and the military are involved, that’s terrible because that means we have a criminally inclined police and armed forces. If they are not involved but are unable to solve these cases and bring the perpetrators to justice, it is horrible too. Their criminal culpability or their incompetence increases the anxiety level of the business community about their personal security.
The earlier the police and the military produce results, the better it will be for the business climate.
Marital therapy
Got this one from reader Peter Stitt.
A husband and wife go to a counselor after 15 years of marriage. The counselor asks them what the problem is and the wife goes into a tirade listing every problem they have ever had in the 15 years they’ve been married. She goes on and on and on.
Finally, the counselor gets up, goes around the desk, embraces the woman and kisses her passionately. The woman shuts up and sits quietly in a daze.
The counselor turns to the husband and says “that is what your wife needs at least three times a week. Can you do that?”
The husband thinks for a moment and replies, “Well, I can get her here Monday and Wednesday, but Friday I golf.”
Boo Chanco ‘s e-mail address is [email protected]
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