Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday, January 17 said he expects the Department of Education (DepEd) to release an “honest-to-goodness” report at the end of this month on the current state of the Philippines’ basic education.

Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, said a transparent assessment is needed considering the challenges besetting the education sector, which was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the prolonged lack of in-person classes.

The senator also said he hopes that the upcoming report would include steps forward to address the crisis hounding the education sector.

“Upang matugunan natin ang krisis sa sektor ng edukasyon, kailangang kilalanin natin kung gaano kabigat ang mga hamong ating kinakaharap (In order for us to address the crisis in the education sector, we need to recognize how serious the challenges we are facing are),” Gatchalian said.

“We will also continue to promote the necessary reforms to raise the quality of education in the country and address the damage caused by the pandemic (Patuloy din nating isusulong ang mga kinakailangang reporma upang maiangat ang kalidad ng edukasyon sa bansa at matugunan ang pinsalang dulot ng pandemya),” he said.

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) will also have a significant role in tackling the country’s education crisis and proposing needed reforms, the lawmaker noted.

The EDCOM II is mandated to review the education sector’s performance and recommend reforms to boost Filipinos’ competitiveness. The Commission is set to start its national assessment this month, said Gatchalian co-chair of the EDCOM II.

The senator has repeatedly expressed alarm on how Filipino students are struggling to master basic competencies as shown in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

In that study, the Philippines ranked last out of 79 countries when it comes to Reading. The Philippines also ranked second to the last when it comes to Mathematics and Science.

The results of the PISA further show that only one out of five learners aged 15 who took the exam reached the minimum proficiency level in each subject.

Gatchalian has also reiterated the need to address the learning poverty in the Philippines, which the World Bank has estimated to be now at 90.9 percent. Learning poverty is defined as the percentage of children aged 10 who cannot read or understand a simple story.