7 Key Issues and Problems of Philippine Education

7 Key Issues And Problems Of
Philippine Education
1 year, 10 months ago
Across the years our educational system has been rocked by controversies
which have remained unabated up to this day. Amidst the welter of issues,
two of them have managed to stand out in
importance: quality and relevance. The major difficulty in education in the
Philippines is the short-sighted policy of sacrificing the quality and quantity
of education for reasons of economy.
The key issues and problems in Philippine education which need further
debate and depth analysis as well as immediate resolution include the
following:
1. Deteriorating quality of education
It is uncommon to hear college teachers decry the quality of students that

come to them. They lament the students’ inability to construct a correct
sentence, much less a paragraph. Private schools have been assailed as
profit-making institutions turning out half-baked graduates who later become
part of the nation’s educated unemployed. All these are indications of the
poor quality of education.
There are multiple factors which have led to low educational standards.
Studies and fact-finding commissions have shown that the deteriorating
quality of education is due to the low government budget for education; poor
quality of teachers; poor management of schools; poor school facilities such
as laboratory and library facilities; poor learning environment; the content of
the curriculum; inadequate books and science equipment; the poor method
of instruction; shortages of classrooms; and others.
2. Colonial, feudal, imperial, commercial, and elitist orientation in Philippine

education
A rather sweeping indictment is that the Philippine educational system has

been and still is basically American in orientation and objectives. Even now,
despite years of independence, our educational system has not succeeded in
eliminating the chronic colonial mentality which abounds like a mental blight
within or without the academe. At present, quality education is financial-
capacity based, making higher education more of a privilege rather than a
right.
3. Shortage of school buildings, textbooks and equipment
Since 1960, elementary enrolment has been expanding at the rapid rate of
4% a year owing to increase in the number of children and in the enrolment
ratio.
The shortages of classrooms and textbooks are particularly severe. The

nationwide classroom shortage is estimated to be 40,000 and the DECS (now
DepEd) operates two shifts in many schools. The textbook problem is even
more serious. A survey done in preparation for a World Bank education loan
found that the pupil-textbook ration in the public elementary schools is 10:1
and 79% of the textbooks are more than 5 years old. This situation has
persisted for many years.
Other teaching tools, such as science materials, teaching devices and audio-
visual aids, are also in short supply. Perennial graft and corruption in the
acquisition of books and in the construction of school buildings has often
been reported. This situation handicaps the teaching staff in their work.
4. Overworked and underpaid teaching staff
Teaching has often been referred to as the “most notable of all professions.”
To many teachers, however, the noble image of their profession has been
transformed into an illusion. Over the last three decades, we have come to
think of the Filipino teachers as overworked and underpaid professionals.
The fact that teachers are paid subsistence wages is only half of their sad
story. Their daily bout with dilapidated classrooms, overcrowded classes, and
lack of teaching materials, among others, make the teachers hardly
rewarded work even more difficult.
Aside from classroom instructions, teachers perform a host of backbreaking
and time-consuming jobs unrelated to the teaching function. The National
Research and Development Center for Teacher Education under the DECS
listed 76 extracurricular activities performed by public school teachers. Such
activities include Operation Timbang, census taking, tax consciousness drive,
Clean and Green Drive, Alay-Tanim, Alay-Lakad, fund raising campaigns,
lining the streets to welcome foreign dignitaries, etc. To do all these,
teachers are forced to work two or three hours overtime everyday. They also
have to report during weekends and holidays and even during their yearly
vacation time.
5. Bilingual policy and the problem of a national language
The bilingual policy in education aims to develop a Filipino who is proficient

in both English and Filipino. For the past 20 years, since the DECS adopted
the bilingual policy, Tagalog-based Pilipino has been used to teach over half
of the subjects in the elementary and secondary curriculum of both public
and private schools. Mathematics and the natural sciences continue to be
taught in English. Despite the findings of the Ateneo Social Weather Survey
that 92% of Filipinos already speak and understand Tagalog, many provinces
north and south of Metro Manila still encounter problems with the language.
This is unfortunate because Pilipino is used in nationally conducted exams
and tests. While the bilingual policy is a law which not even the Secretary of
Education can change, it has become a growing concern that many students
are deficient in communication skills.
6. Mismatch
The major problem of the tertiary level is the large proportion of the so called
“mismatch” between training and actual jobs, as well as the existence of a
large group of educated unemployed or underemployed. The literature
points out that this could be the result of a rational response to a dual labor
market where one sector is import-substituting and highly-protected with low
wages. Graduates may choose to “wait it out” until a job opportunity in the
high paying sector comes.
To address this problem, it is suggested that leaders in business and industry

should be actively involved in higher education. Furthermore, a selective
admission policy should be carried out; that is, mechanisms should be
installed to reduce enrolment in oversubscribed programs and promote
enrolment in undersubscribed ones.
7. Globalization issue in education
It is in the educational sector where the concept of globalization is further

refined and disseminated. It comes in varied forms as “global
competitiveness,” “the information highway,” “the Third Wave Theory,”
“post modern society,” “the end of history,” and “borderless economy.”
The so-called Philippines 2000 was launched by the Philippine government to

promote “global competitiveness,” Philippine Education 2000 carried it to
effect through training of more skilled workers and surplus Filipino human
power for foreign corporations to reduce their cost of production.
The Philippines, including its educational sector, is controlled by US

monopoly capital through loan politics. This task is accomplished by the IMF,
the World Bank and a consortium of transnational banks, called the Paris
Club, supervised by the WB. The structural adjustments as basis for the
grants of loans, basically require liberalization, deregulation and privatization
in a recipient country.
As transplanted into the educational sector, deregulation is spelled reduced

appropriation or reduced financial assistance to public schools through so
called fiscal autonomies; privatization and liberalization is spelled
commercialized education or liberalization of governments’ supervision of
private schools and privatize state colleges and universities.
The WB-IMF and the Ford Foundation have earmarked $400M for Philippine
education. These loans financed the Educational Development Project
(EDPITAF) in 1972; the Presidential Commission to Survey Philippine
Education (PCSPE) in 1969; the Program for Decentralized Educational
Development (PRODED) in 1981-1989. As pointed out by many critics, “the
massive penetration of WB-IMF loans into the Philippine Educational System
has opened it wide to official and systematic foreign control, the
perpetuation of US and other foreign economic interest, and to maximize the
efficiency of exploiting Philippine natural resources and skilled labor.”
A number of studies and fact-finding commissions such as the Sibayan and

Gonzales Evaluation (1988), the Presidential Commission to Survey
Philippine Education (PCSPE, 1969), and the Congressional Commission on
Education (EDCOM, 1991-1992) have pointed out that the problems of
Philippine education are the problems of quality and political will.
Finding Solutions to the Problems

of Education Essay
981 Words4 Pages
Problems of education connect to funding, teacher quality and the
status of the teaching profession, student academic performance
and standardized testing, racial imbalances, and equal educational
opportunity. The lack of parental involvement seems to be a
problem for education also. Parental involvement in their child's
education makes them feel good about themselves. They usually
have higher grades; higher test scores on standardized tests,
classroom assessments and at arrive at school all the time. It is
important to have quality teachers that care about the students
and that encourage parents on how important it is to be involved
with their child’s education. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
law took effect in 2002; it has had a broad…show more
content…
Schools, districts, states, and the federal government should be financially accountable to the
public, with policymakers accountable to provide the resources needed to produce positive results.
Policies should assist and encourage parents, families, and communities to be actively involved
and engaged in their public schools. These policies should require professional development
programs for all educators to include the skills and knowledge needed for effective parental and
community communication and engagement strategies. And finally they should provide incentives
or require employers to grant a reasonable amount of leave for parents to participate in their
children’s school activities. A qualified, caring, diverse, and stable workforce in our schools
requires a pool of well prepared, highly skilled candidates for all vacancies, quality induction for
new teachers with mentoring services from trained veteran teachers, opportunities for continual
improvement and growth for all employees, working conditions in which they can be successful,
and professional compensation and benefits. School funding systems must provide adequate,
equitable and sustainable funding. Making taxes fair and eliminating inefficient and ineffective
business subsidies are essential prerequisites to achieving adequacy, equity, and stability in school
funding. Elementary Secondary Education

7 Key Issues and Problems of Philippine Education

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7 Key Issues And Problems Of

1. Deteriorating quality of education

It is uncommon to hear college teachers decry the quality of students that

2. Colonial, feudal, imperial, commercial, and elitist orientation in Philippine

A rather sweeping indictment is that the Philippine educational system has

3. Shortage of school buildings, textbooks and equipment

The shortages of classrooms and textbooks are particularly severe. The

4. Overworked and underpaid teaching staff

5. Bilingual policy and the problem of a national language

The bilingual policy in education aims to develop a Filipino who is proficient

To address this problem, it is suggested that leaders in business and industry

7. Globalization issue in education

It is in the educational sector where the concept of globalization is further

The so-called Philippines 2000 was launched by the Philippine government to

The Philippines, including its educational sector, is controlled by US

As transplanted into the educational sector, deregulation is spelled reduced

A number of studies and fact-finding commissions such as the Sibayan and

Finding Solutions to the Problems

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