The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has commended the performance of the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) students despite the challenges brought by the shift from face-to-face to remote learning.

DOST Secretary Fortunato “Boy” T. de la Peña, chairperson of the PSHS System Board of Trustees,  said in the first quarter of School Year 2020-2021,  50 percent of the total student population of PSHS made it to the Director’s List or considered as honor students. 

He noted that the honor roll of students whose general weighted average (GWA) is 1.50 or better in PSHS. 

"Academic records show that it is significantly higher compared to that of School Year 2019-2020 with 33 percent of students in the Director’s List,” the DOST chief said. 

Meanwhile, 82 percent of Pisay students were of good academic standing, with GWA between 1.00-2.25 in the first quarter of the current School Year, he said 

"This is lower by 15 percent  as compared to last School Year which is at 97 percent,” he noted. 

De la Peña explained that the PSHS System is implementing its Leverage Mechanism to help the 18 percent of its student population with grades of 4.00 or 5.00 or those who have difficulties in adjusting to remote learning to improve their grades.

"The generally good performance of students can be attributed to the resilience and perseverance of students, the collective effort of teachers to guide and to attend to the needs of their students, and the relevance and appropriateness of learning guides used to facilitate remote learning,” he said.