While no existing policy allows “mass promotion” among learners, the Department of Education (DepEd) reaffirmed its commitment to address the concerns related to the alleged practice.

(DepEd / MB Visual Content Group)

“Wala po talagang ganyang policy sa DepEd (We do not have that kind of policy in DepEd),” Education Undersecretary and Spokesperson Michael Poa said in a DZBB interview on Friday, June 16. “There is no issuance that even allows for mass promotion,” he added.

However, Poa noted that while DepEd does not have a policy on “mass promotion,” this may be happening in the field.

As a response, Poa said that DepEd is looking into the possible reasons that push teachers to resort to such practice.

In May, the advocacy group Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) urged the Marcos government to address issues on mass promotion.

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2023/5/29/confront-education-woes-on-mass-promotion-pbbm-told

Poa said that DepEd is currently looking into what contributes to the culture of “mass promotion” in schools and what policies can be revised to ensure that only those students who have mastered the learning competencies in their grade levels will be promoted.

“While we do not have a policy on ‘mass promotion’, if this is really happening in the field, we are looking into this,” Poa added.

As DepEd prepares to release the revised K to 10 curriculum, Poa said that the agency wanted to ensure that all of its policies will be evidence-based.

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2023/5/20/dep-ed-eyes-rollout-of-new-k-to-10-curriculum-in-sy-2024-2025

DepEd, Poa added, will also focus on assessment since this is also a way to find out if there are students who get promoted to the next grade level without mastering their learning competencies for a specific grade level.

“Assessment is something we really want to focus on in DepEd,” Poa said. As such, he explained that assessment will also be a part of the National Learning Camp (NLC) to be rolled out next month.

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2023/6/7/dep-ed-to-hold-nat-l-learning-camp-during-school-break

In the NLC, Poa explained that participants will be asked to take a “pre-test” and a “post-test” as a form of assessment. This, he added, will also help determine if DepEd’s programs are effective.

Moreover, Poa underscored the need to standardize the assessment so DepEd will have an evidence-based mechanism to check if the learner should be promoted to the next level or not.

“We don’t want to blame the teachers especially if there are things that encourage them to do mass promotion,” Poa said in a mix of English and Filipino.

To address the problem, Poa said that there might be a “need to fix the system” and tweak some policies so as not to encourage the culture of “mass promotion.”

RELATED STORY:

https://mb.com.ph/2023/6/1/gov-t-urged-to-address-mass-promotion-worsening-education-crisis