Comparing Philippine DepEd to Other Countries Education Systems
I have recently read several articles regarding, ways to improve the Philippine education system. Most talk about money issues, various types of equipment that could be used in classrooms, textbooks, salaries, etc., however one thing that is rarely if ever discussed is ethics, honesty, job dedication, competency, corruption, etc. Most groups, especially outside observers, often ignore these issues. They assume that the people running the Philippine system have an attitude towards education that is basically the same as the people running the education departments from the countries with superior education systems.
Unfortunately many of the outside “expert” consultants that are making suggestions about how to make improvements, seem to have only observed limited (government selected) locations for a week or two - Much to short of a time to see the real issues, especially if an agency is intentionally trying to hide anything (or if the group is simply doing, saying and showing what the “visiting guests” need to observe in order to receive grant money, certifications, awards, etc.). The consultants also tend to only review carefully worded reports from various government officials. As a result, if a government report states that issues have been reviewed and satisfactory corrected, usually the consultants simply assume that the reports are true and no longer worry about verifying the issues or asking detailed follow up questions (especially if serious follow up would require going to remote locations). Even if there are a few people trying to report issues, who would you, as the visiting consultant or observer, tend to believe, every government official and government employee that says there is no problem or a hand full of people usually referred to as, troublemakers, malcontents, etc.?
At this time the countries with the top grade school and high school education systems are (report dated March 18, 2014 found at http://eblogfa.com/tech/top-20-best-education-systems-countries-in-the-world ):
1. Japan
2. South Korea
3. United Kingdom
4. Singapore
5. Russia
6. Finland
7. Canada
8. Netherlands
9. Ireland:
10. Israel
11. China
12. New Zealand
13. Norway
14. Belgium
15.Germany
16. Denmark
17. Estonia
18. United States of America
19. France
20. Portugal
Money, salaries, government spending, instructor education requirements, etc. all vary in some cases very widely between the nations listed. Even when the countries start their early education programs varies widely. Not to mention the varying the high school graduation rates.
So while money, salaries, and fancy equipment do seem to be a factor with having a quality education system, it does not seem to be the primary factor. Nor does it seem to matter when the country starts its early education programs or how many years the students attend. The base foundation to having a quality education system seems to lie somewhere else.
What could the underlying factor(s) be that all these countries have in common? What causes them to have the highest quality education systems on the planet?
Why don’t we take a few real life examples of things that are continually done by the Philippine education system and consider what would happen if the same thing was done in any of these other countries?
We could start with currently popular the K-12 conversion excuse for all the woes of our current education system. But let us skip ahead and past the initial planning and implementation stages of the process, as that does not seem to the major issue regarding the underlying factors of having a quality education system. (Countries with strong educational organizations are always looking for ways that will improve their education systems and constantly implementing changes.)
So let us jump ahead to the 2013-2014 school year and some of the statements made by DepEd just a few days before the start of that school year:
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The textbook shortage has already been addressed last school year and the students in the country's 45,000 public schools currently enjoy a "1:1 book-students ratio" in both elementary and secondary schools.
Learner’s Modules (LMs) for Grades 2 & 8 have been bidded. Deliveries of these materials shall commence in June 2013.
Mateo likewise assured the public that DepEd would complete the delivery of teaching materials nationwide for Grades 2 and 8 under the newly signed K to 12 program before the end of June.
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As we know over half the materials promised for some grades were not delivered at any time during the that school year. We also know that there was never a valid explanation given that would allow any remotely honest or competent group to make any of the above statements. How could any competent or honest group not have know that so many of the materials had, apparently, not even had the first page of the first book printed before the start of the school year? How could any remotely honest or competent group have so many section heads/leaders/managers signing documentation stating that everything is in order and will be ready when the school year started, when obviously so many of the tasks required had not even been started?
How many of the above countries would the parents, the teachers, the school heads, the school boards, other government offices, as well as legal departments and agencies just sit back, tuck their tails between their legs like scared stray dogs, cowering in a corner, hang their heads and say, “there is just nothing we can do about the problem”? How many people from these other countries would be so terrified of upsetting someone in government that they would not ask any questions about the problem, nor insist on serious, honest explanations nor expect any accountability?
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For YEARS, DepEd seems to have had a problem remembering when the public schools will start. Or at least the groups responsible for delivering material to the schools seem to have difficulty remembering that Philippine public schools start in early June. To most people this would logically mean that the books, learning materials, etc. should be delivered to the schools before the end of May. Rather than before the end of June or July or August or the end of the year . . . if they feel like getting around to it.
Of course, DepEd has no shortage of excuses for anything and everything. The basic standard excuse for not delivering the books before several weeks or months into the school year is that DepEd does not know exactly how many students will be attending any particular school, therefore does not know what quantity of materials each school will need. Granted an exact number may not be possible, however most of the other countries use a very simple math formula to determine a fairly good base line estimate of how many students a school should expect. That formula goes like this:
If last year grade X had Y students then this year grade X+1 will probably have Y students. In other words, if last year a school’s grade 4 class had 357 students then it is reasonable to assume that the grade 5 class of the same school will have 357 students this year. Repeat that process for each of the grades in the school, add up the total for all the grades and you should have a reasonable base line estimate.
That method works fairly well for most locations I have seen. Of course we are assuming there has been no major natural disasters, no political rezoning, or other obvious reasons, for large numbers of families to be moving in or out of an area (However, decent estimates can be made for each of those, as well as most any other situation, if a person has a reasonable IQ and solid basic math/algebra skills.)
If schools are constantly having unexplained shifts, especially if families are transferring, for no apparent reason, to a schools more distant than they were attending, one might need to consider another probably. The possibility that rather than fighting with the previous school’s administration for a better education, many people simply choose to transfer to another school with the hope that the new school might provide a better education for their child.
How many people in any of the above counties do you think would accept the answer “we just don’t know how many students to expect” as a valid answer for not having at least a reasonable estimate of the material that needs to be delivered before the first day of the school year? How many of these countries do you think have parents that would simply keep quiet for an entire school year then quietly relocate their children to another school?
I am sure there are good and honest instructors in the Philippines. UNFORTUNATLY there are also a LOT that do not have even basic knowledge of the subject they are teaching, as a result poorly teaching and miss grading student’s work.
Making a few mistakes, once in a while, is human. However when instructors make numerous grading mistakes on nearly every paper and test they grade there is a serious problem.
How many parents, school heads, education departments, of any of the above countries would tolerate an instructor that is constantly miss grading or constantly giving the students incorrect information?
Would any of the educational authorities or parents accept the excuse that he/she (the instructor) was just following the answer key? (Thus implying that the instructor is to poorly educated to realize when there is a mistake on the answer key or in the teachers manual AND that the instructor is to lazy to independently check the information for accuracy).
How long would instructors/teachers be employed by schools within any of these nations if the instructors insisted that incorrectly graded papers are not a big deal, especially the daily work, quizzes and homework because those results/scores will not have much effect on the student’s final grade? Ignoring or more likely not understanding, the true issue. That continuously incorrectly graded papers confuse and destroys the confidence of students that are doing the class work correctly but having correct answers marked incorrect.
How many people working in the education departments, parents, government officials, etc. in any of these other countries would say these and other issues, are not their problem and simply choose to quietly cower in fear, ignoring all of the issues, doing absolutely nothing about any of them?
How many government officials, government and/or civilian legal agencies, PTA’s, parents, etc. in any of these other countries would allow their education department to continue year after year making idle promises, rarely if ever delivering more than a fraction of what was promised? How many would allow the departments to never give any serious explanation about what happened to the funds for the undelivered materials and services?
I would challenge anyone doing comparisons between other nations’ education system and the Philippines, not to just look at money, salaries, books and equipment and other tangible things but also look at, examine and compare the less tangible areas. Then ask people from those other nations what would happen to educational employees of their country if that employee or group of employees where the cause, directly or indirectly, of some of the same things that have been happening within the ranks of The Philippine Education Department for years?
The fact is that none of the countries would tolerate any of these issues. I suspect most of the people in these counties would have a difficult time believing that any education system would even be capable of such things, much less being allowed to continue such inexcusable activates for years.
If we do not insist that ALL the people (regardless of their position, regardless of who they are related to, regardless of how long they have been employed, etc.) within The Philippine Department of Education that are directly and/or indirectly causing the problems (especially the most basic inexcusable problems, regardless of the excuse) . . . if we do not insist that every one of these people be removed from our education system and government employment, we will never be able to have a high quality education system.
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