Medals overload? DepEd defends award system under K-12

MANILA, 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 eases the pressure of competition among learners and encourages 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 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 in graduation and moving-up ceremonies for the end of school year 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 performance) in international large-scale assessments,” he 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 10, 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 durng which 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, has effectively removed the “valedictorian,” “salutatorian” and “honorary mention” distinctions, usually given to just up to 10 students per class or batch.

Instead, under the current system, students with an average grade of 90 to 94 are automatically given “with honors” award, while those with average grade of 95 to 97 are recognized “with high honors.”

Students who obtained the excellent average grade of 98 to 100, meanwhile, shall be conferred the “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

For Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC), the current awards and recognition system needs to be reviewed to enable authorities to craft more uniformed or defined standards for grading students.

In a television interview, TDC national chairperson Benjo Basas said he had 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,” he said 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 other output or performance that are subjective such as art projects, acting performances, sports performances and oral communication skills, among others.