(Unsplash)

Education officials ought to "think very hard" on how to improve the Philippines' education standards following the country’s very dismal results in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study.

Thus, said Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro, who described the results of the study as "a problem that cannot just be overlooked and set aside". 

“After the 2018 PISA results came out, the Department of Education (DepEd) said that it will undertake measures to improve the average scores of Filipino students. After four years, the average 2022 PISA results were about the same, if not worse in some aspects,” said Luistro. 

"Our education officials should get together, assess, analyze and understand this problem properly. Ponder and think very hard for long term solutions. There should be no band aid or kneejerk remedies," she said. 

Vice President Sara Duterte is the concurrent education secretary. 

In mathematics, the Philippines ranked sixth to the last among 81 countries, scoring an average of 355 points. This is far below the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average of 472. 

In reading, the country also ranked sixth to that last, while ranking third to the last for science.

Only 16 percent of students attained at least Level 2 proficiency in mathematics, or interpretation and recognition, without direct instructions, of how a simple situation can be represented mathematically. This is significantly less the average across OECD countries of 69 percent. Almost no Filipino students were top performers or attained Level 5 or 6 in mathematics.

Around 24 percent and 23 percent of the students attained basic Level 2 or higher, for reading and science, respectively. This is as contrasted to the OECD average of 74 percent for reading and 76 percent for science. There were also no top performers in these  two subjects.

"We cannot allow it to fester," Luistro said of the sorry outcome.

The lady solon said the lack of substantial progress indicates that the DepEd, as well as the CHEd (Commission on Higher Education), need to intensify their efforts. 

"They must prioritize the review and updating of the K-12 curriculum. There must be an upgrading of our learning facilities with massive resources allocated form the annual national budget. Our educators should go through upskilling and reskilling with effective professional development programs," she said.

"We must closely examine the educational practices of high-performing countries in the PISA study, such as Singapore, Macao (China), Japan, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, and Estonia. By understanding and adapting successful strategies from these nations, we can pave the way for the holistic transformation of our education system,” concluded Luistro.