MANILA – Following the World Bank’s study indicating over 80% of Filipino pupils fell below the minimum proficiency levels, the Department of Education (DepEd) demanded a public apology from the World Bank on Monday.
DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones criticized the World Bank in a Palace briefing for basing its study on obsolete data and outdated assessments and distributing it without following the country’s regulations.
“Ang World Bank na nagpalabas nitong datos na ito, hindi sumusunod sa protocol. Kasi kung mag-report ka about a country, kailangan malaman ng country na iyon kung ano ang sasabihin ninyo; kailangan nilang ipalabas. Walang kasabi-sabi, inuna sa media. So malaking kakulangan ito (The World Bank in releasing this data did not follow protocol. Because if you report about a country, that country needs to know what you are going to say; they need to be released. Without informing us, they announced first in the media. So, it’s a big shortcoming),” Briones said.
Briones claimed that the World Bank ignored DepEd’s initiatives to strengthen the country’s education system.
She went on to say that the World Bank has long been a partner of the DepEd in its education reform efforts, with roughly USD300 million in loans provided to the country since the 1980s.
“Matagal na partner na ang World Bank since 1981. Marami na tayong inutang sa World Bank para mag-improve sa edukasyon. So, partner sila, kasali sila dito sa sitwasyon sa Pilipinas (The World Bank has been a partner for a long time since 1981. We have owed a lot to the World Bank to improve education. So, they are partners, they are part of the situation in the Philippines),” Briones said. “And since the country was insulted, was shamed and so on, we expect and look forward to a public apology lalo na iyong hindi pagsabi sa amin na naglabas sila ng ganoong klaseng datos na lumang-luma na datos (especially when they did not tell us that they released that kind of data that is very old).”
The study was based on three evaluations in which the Philippines participated: the Program for International Students (Pisa) in 2018, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2019, and the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) in 2019.
According to the World Bank, there is a “crisis” in Philippine education “which started pre-Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019)” and “have been made worse” by the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 80% of children in the Philippines “do not know what they should know in school”, according to the report.
The World Bank said that only 10 to 22 percent of Grade 4, 5, and 9 students in the Philippines scored “at or above minimum proficiency” on all three global assessments.
DepEd has implemented educational reforms to help students adjust to the new normal, including new teaching techniques such as online learning, modular learning, television and radio-based instruction, and blended learning, which is a combination of two or more means of learning.
