Teacher’s union backs abolition

CEBU, Philippines -  After receiving complaints and reports on alleged cheating incidents during the National Achievement Test (NAT), the Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Region 7 Union supports the call for the immediate abolition of the said exam.

 Union president Antonia Lim, a mathematics teacher at Abellana National High School, said that the NAT does not serve its purpose at all.

Lim said that under the “teach to test”, teachers review the students on the things that are most likely to come out in the exams.She said that teachers are forced to do the “teach to test” in order to get higher results during the conduct of the NAT.

“We are forced because NAT results are used as a basis in allocating bonuses for the teachers and the school’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses,” said Lim, in a statement.

Lim added that because of the performance-based bonus introduced by President Benigno Aquino III, teachers are to receive bonuses based on the school’s performance and one of the indicators is the results of the said exam.

“NAT has become a divisive factor among school and teachers because it creates competition to get a high score,” she said.

NAT is conducted yearly by the Department of Education (DepEd), wherein its National Educational Testing and Research Center uses the NAT results in research, evaluation and assessment of the effectiveness of the Philippine education system and in the formulation of educational policies geared towards the realization of an empowered and globally competitive Filipino.

Lim added that if DepEd and the Aquino administration are really sincere in increasing the quality and standard of the country’s education, it is not through NAT but through higher budgetary allocation for education to fill up classrooms, equipment and facility shortages as well as increasing the salary of the teachers.

  NAT is a yearly exams given to grade sixth and tenth students in the country which measures the students’ knowledge and mastery over the subjects of English, Mathematics, Science, Filipino and Hekasi by way of multiple choice type test. (FREEMAN)