DepEd defends awards system under K to 12

CEBU, Philippines — The current awards and recognition system being implemented in elementary and high schools under the Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12) basic education program ease the pressure of competition among learners and instead encourage them to focus on their own academic growth, an official of the Department of Education (DepEd) said.

“This kind of awards system really highly encourages our learners to strive. It is more inclusive because it is not limited to just the top 10 in the class,” DepEd assistant secretary Francis Cesar Bringas said in a mix of English and Filipino in a radio interview with TeleRadyo Serbisyo on Friday.

Bringas made the statement amid comments on social media criticizing the handing out of too many academic awards by most schools this graduation and moving-up ceremonies season for the end of School Year (SY) 2023-2024, despite Filipino students' poor performance in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).

“PISA is using different parameters when it comes to determining the scores of the countries. We are also using different parameters for the awards and recognition in schools based on (the students') achievements. So, we cannot compare the results of classroom performances (of students) with that of (their performances) in international large-scale assessments," Bringas said.

Based on the 2022 PISA results announced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in December last year, Filipino 15-year-old students were five to six years behind their foreign peers in learning competencies.

The PISA results showed that the Philippines was still in the bottom ten, specifically at 76th out of 81 countries in terms of reading comprehension, mathematics, and science.

The PISA, developed by OECD, measures 15-year-olds’ ability to use their reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.

The Philippines first participated in the assessment in 2018 wherein it ranked last of the 79 countries.

The current awards and recognition system being implemented since the launch of the K-12 program in 2016, effectively removed the valedictorian, salutatorian and honorable mention distinctions, which were usually given to just up to ten students per class or batch.

Instead, under the current system, students who obtained the average grade of 90 to 94 will automatically be given the "with honors" award while those who got an average grade of 95 to 97 will be recognized "with high honors". Students who obtained the excellent average grade of 98 to 100, meanwhile, shall be conferred “with highest honors" award.

“In the past when we have the valedictorian and salutatorian (distinctions), the learners are competing with other learners, but with the new grading system, or awards system you are competing with yourself and if you meet the (grade) standards then you will be recognized," Bringas pointed out.

More defined grading standards

Meanwhile for Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC), the current awards and recognition system needs to be reviewed in order to craft a more uniformed or defined standards that would guide the schools in terms of grading the students.

In a television interview, TDC national chairperson Benjo Basas said he experienced first-hand the varying standards of grading by some schools after handling several transferee students.

Basas said some transferee students were lagging behind in their learning competencies but had good grades in their previous schools.

“Our teachers, and even our schools, usually give considerations or ease their grading standards for students who are diligent in their studies,” Basas said in Filipino in an interview with ABS-CBN News.

Basas also explained that grades do not solely come from the scores in the exams but also from some other output or performances that are rather subjective such as through art projects, acting performances, sports performances, oral communication skills, among others.

“The problem, currently, is that every locality, every school has varying standards (of grading the students). Our teachers' appreciation of the students' performances also varies,” Basas said in Filipino. — (FREEMAN)