What is the current state of Philippine Education?

Written by: Rachelle SisonOctober 5, 2023

Photograph is AI generated by text to image

A roundup of the latest news in Philippine education paints a bleak picture:

Classroom Shortage

The Numbers: There is a current shortage of 159,000 classrooms, up from 91,000 last year. It is estimated that P100B is needed every year for the next 5 years (a total of P400+B or P2.5M per classroom) to construct 50,000 new classrooms a year to curb the shortage by 2028. [i][ii]

The number of classrooms targeted to be completed this year by the DepEd is just 6,400, with a budget allocation of P15B[iii]. At the rate things are going and without a long-term plan in place, the classroom shortage is here to stay.

On the ground:
Schools and teachers are making do with the resources they have. In some schools, classes are scheduled in two up to three shifts per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon (and for some, another in the evening), to accommodate all students. [iv]

Other measures schools are resorting to include: dividing their classrooms into two using blackboards; implementing blended learning (a combination of on- and off-site learning);[v] and using any space available – lobbies, covered courts, former toilets, principal’s rooms, and open spaces under trees – as classrooms to cope with the shortage.

Teachers are also resorting to their own fundraising via donation drives (see the #PisoGcashChallenge[vi] which trended on facebook at the start of this school year) because of their urgent need for funds for classroom repairs.

Heart of the Matter:

VP and Education Secretary Sara Duterte is insisting that the construction of 50,000 new classrooms a year is impossible. “The suggestions ...to allocate a budget of P100 billion per year for classrooms are obviously deceptive maneuvers deliberately designed to counter the Marcos administration’s solution to the problems hounding the education sector," says her statement plastered so boldly on the DepEd website. [vii]

But House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro from the ACT (Alliance of Concerned Teachers) points out that it has already been done in the past – the DepEd was able to build 100,936 classrooms from 2014 to 2016 under the Aquino administration[viii], and in 2017, the budget allocation for classroom construction under the Duterte administration itself was P107B[ix].

More than anything, the current classroom shortage appears to be a problem of weak political will and misguided priorities.

Teacher Shortage

The Numbers: There is also a current shortage of 147,000 teachers in our country. ACT estimates that 30,000 new teaching positions need to be created and filled every year for the next 5 years in order to decidedly bring down our student-teacher ratio from 40:1 to 35:1[x].

Since 2019, the DepEd has been receiving allocations to hire only 10,000 new teachers annually. Next year, they’re finally bumping that figure up to 20,000, but it’s still short of what’s needed to close the gap. Additionally, it is estimated that 1,500 teachers leave abroad yearly[xi].

On The Ground: A shortage of teachers translates to more students being assigned to teachers than is conducive for learning. Teachers in public schools in urban areas often handle “6-8 classes of up to 50 students each, or a total of 300-400 students”, according to ACT chairperson Vladimer Quetua .

“Babalik na naman kami sa pagturo ng sardinas. Babalik na naman kami sa pagturo ng Ma Ling (canned luncheon meat),” one teacher laments in an online forum on returning to full in-person classes[xii].

A single teacher handling 70 students means he is handling the workload of two people, but is only being compensated for one. Teachers are overworked and underpaid. As their workload is burdensome, motivation dwindles, they experience burnout, and the quality of instruction suffers in the process.

Heart of the Matter: While several factors are contributing to the shortage, the most apparent is again the lack of prioritization by the current administration. Similar to the classroom shortage, VP Sara Duterte is also insisting that hiring 30,000 new teachers a year is impossible. But previous administrations were able to accomplish this goal, with the Aquino and Duterte administrations hiring an average of 29,000 and 25,000 new teachers per year respectively[xiii].

Other factors include the DepEd’s slow hiring process. The current process takes as long as six to eight months and involves both the DBM and CSC (Civil Service Commission) to get a teacher into the public school system [xiv].

The Commission on Audit has also reported that the DepEd consistently “fails to utilize billions of funds allotted for the hiring of teachers”. As of September 2023, 51,000 teaching and non-teaching positions in the DepEd remain unfilled, representing 5% of the department’s 1,000,000 authorized plantilla. This translates to about P24 billion in funds untouched from the DepEd’s allotted budget for the year.[xv] This, in spite of teachers’ salary increases outpacing inflation in the last five years. Entry-level teachers’ salaries went from P20,000 to P27,000 from 2019 to 2023 as a result of the rollout of the Salary Standardization Law . And yet, they’re still relatively low compared to our ASEAN peers. The ACT is stressing that entry-level salaries need to be raised to at least P34,000 in order to be considered a livable wage in these trying times.

Learning Poverty Rates

The Numbers: In 2019, the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMO) together with UNICEF released a report called the Southeast Asia- Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) to assess the proficiency in reading, writing, and math of grade 5 students across six countries.

The six countries included Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Here’s how we fared: the Philippines has learning poverty rates of 90% in reading, 83% in math, and 72% in writing.

This means that 9 out of 10 grade 5 students cannot read or understand simple texts; 8 out of 10 struggle with basic mathematical calculations; and 7 out of 10 have difficulty expressing themselves in writing.

We only fared better than Lao PDR, are at par with Cambodia and Myanmar, and are far behind our neighbors Malaysia and Vietnam.

On The Ground: According to some public school teachers, the way DepEd incentivizes teachers and schools is a huge part of the problem. Bonuses are rewarded based on drop-out rates and passing rates in the National Achievement Test (NAT). Thus, many teachers and schools end up reporting rates that do not accurately reflect the true proficiency of students[xvi]. Students get to progress to higher levels, and then teachers at higher levels are burdened with having to re-teach the basics.

Some of the motivation to pass undeserving students also stems from teachers’ fear of students dropping out of school entirely. “It’s better to just pass the child – at least they’re still in the system where we can help them.”[xvii].

There have also been reports of instructions from higher ups at Deped to not fail a single student as part of their zero dropout/no-child-left-behind policy. Teachers who fail students are subjected to questioning and interrogation by their principal, DepEd district supervisor, and division superintendent[xviii].

The result? Non-readers making it all the way to college[xix].

Annual reports published by the DepEd often highlight passing rates as high as 99%[xx], but independent assessments from international organizations reveal the true state of education in our country.

Heart of the Matter:

It’s all interconnected. Our teacher, classroom, and instructional material shortages affect learning outcomes. Until our government starts making our teachers and education a national priority, our students’ ability to learn will continue to suffer.

A Vicious Cycle

If you’ve been following the education space for any measure of time, you’ll know that there is nothing new about any of the numbers reported in this article. If we go back in time 10 years, you’ll find that the shortage figures are roughly the same, give or take improvements in some areas and a worsening in others. The problems hounding our education sector are perennial. Education in the country is not being funded at a rate that would catch up with the needs of our rapidly growing student population.

These statistics are why the allocations to confidential funds are so infuriating. P150M could be used for the construction of 75 new classrooms or the funding of the annual salaries of 320 teachers.

We’re in the middle of an education crisis and our education secretary is more concerned with red-tagging and curriculum rebranding than addressing our education woes. Former education secretary Leonor Briones was no different, more preoccupied with denying the findings of international organizations on the true state of education in our country than with instituting reforms[xx]. All in all, we’re about to live through 12 years of service from education secretaries who don’t have their priorities in order or comprehensive long-term plans in place.

Unless the leadership at the DepEd changes, the future of education in this country looks bleak. The casualties? Our youth and children, condemned to a vicious cycle of impoverishment because of illiteracy. The private sector can only do so much, as there is no substitute for social and political action. Who we vote into office matters. Our electoral choices are catching up to us, and we will be paying for the consequences for decades to come.