Only 1 public school in the Philippines passed PISA test — senator

MANILA, Philippines — Only one public school in the whole country scored above minimum proficiency level in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said on Thursday.

Speaking at a Kapihan sa Manila Bay event, Gatchalian confirmed that Benigno Aquino Ninoy High School in Makati City was the only public school in the country to pass the PISA 2022 exam, while 187 other participating schools did not.

The Department of Education (DepEd) earlier bared in a Senate hearing in February that the Benigno Ninoy Aquino High School was the only school to score above minimum proficiency in Metro Manila, where 21 public and private schools participated in PISA 2022.

The department, however, did not share during the hearing how many public schools in the whole country achieved minimum proficiency in PISA 2022.

Over 7,000 students from public and private schools took the PISA exam, findings of which show that just less than a quarter of Filipino students had minimum proficiency in mathematics, science and reading. Compared to the 2018 PISA, the Philippines’ scores in 2022 showed no significant difference.

Both the schools and the students that participated in PISA 2022 were randomly selected from all 16 regions in the country, excluding the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

If interpreted as a representation of the whole public school system, this means just less than 1% of public schools in the Philippines have the bare minimum proficiency in foundational subjects.

During Gatchalian's visit to the Benigno Aquino National High School, he said that they sought to find out the concerns and practices of the students there.

"When we asked them, what are their concerns and what are the best practices? Their concerns, nakita nila, as late as junior high school and even senior high school. We have students who cannot read," Gatchalian said.

"So, one of our biggest problems in education is the foundational skills or the fundamental skills of our students. Which is reading and math," the senator added.