ARMM schools continue to fare poorly in NAT
By Jerry E. Esplanada
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:04:00 07/01/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The Department of Education office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has a lot of work to catch up on.
Several public schools in the ARMM provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Shariff Kabunsuan were the poorest performers in the National Achievement Test for sixth grade students, conducted in March by the DepEd-attached National Educational Testing and Research Center, or NETRC.
Of the 30,396 elementary schools that took the NAT, a total of 366 were tagged by the DepEd as "low performing," or those with a Mean Percentage Score (MPS) of 34 percent and below.
According to an NETRC report furnished the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the 20 poorest performing eloementary schools were the following:
Ariman Guro in Lanao del Sur with an MPS of 21.7 percent; Buribid in Lanao del Sur, 22.45 percent; Upper D'Lag in Maguindanao, 22.8 percent; Sultan Para Central in Lanao del Sur, 23.6 percent; Kayupo in Maguindanao, 24 percent;
Ranao Midafa in Shariff Kabunsuan, 24.19 percent; Buwal Buwal in Sulu, 24.26 percent; Suba Bangas in Sulu, 24.35 percent; Dataya in Maguindanao, 24.59 percent; San Jose in Maguindanao, 24.64 percent;
Buadi Inambay in Lanao del Sur and Sangbay Big in Basilan, 24.73 percent; Pang. Uding in Sulu and H. Asma Biruar in Shariff Kabunsuan, 24.89 percent; Blat in Sarangani, 25.05 percent; Pagayawan in Lanao del Sur, 25.5 percent;
Tuyangan in Apayao, 25.7 percent; Pangasinan in Sulu, 25.8 percent; and Sugadol in Maguindanao and Sapa Bulak in Basilan, 25.93 percent.
A total of 57 schools in Shariff Kabunsuan made it to the bracket of low performance, while Maguindanao had 40, Sulu 32, Lanao del Sur 23, and Basilan 17.
Other low performing schools could be found in Masbate (36), Negros Occidental (24), Camarines Sur (18), Tawi-Tawi (14), Isabela (11), Quezon (8), Davao City (6), and Albay (5).
Of the 10 poorest performing schools in last school year's NAT, seven were located in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Sulu.
In the ARMM, some of the probable reasons for the poor performance are the unstable peace and order situation, poverty, inadequate teacher-pupil ratio and the limited learning resources in some of the schools, according to NETRC Director Nelia Benito.
Citing the low performance of some schools nationwide, the DepEd has come up with intervention measures like a P500-million English proficiency training program for teachers.
Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus, meanwhile, directed low performing schools to immediately focus on weak subject areas as reflected by the NAT results.
But Lapus expressed confidence "we're on our way to meeting our (MPS) target of 75 percent by 2010."
He noted that "from an alarming 43 percent in 2003, the MPS of Grade 6 pupils in public schools nationwide increased to a very encouraging 65 percent this year."
"The NAT results show that our reforms are moving in the right direction...The key reforms and well-focused policy directions to improve basic education are slowly but surely bearing fruit," Lapus said.
Some 1.64 million students took the NAT early this year.
The NAT aims to determine students' achievement levels, strengths and weaknesses in key subject areas, as well as identify those who require remedial classes in first year high school.
According to Lapus, test results also indicated that students' learning skills in Mathematics, Science, Filipino, Hekasi (short for Heograpiya, Kasaysayan and Sibika) and English were improving.
Compared to 2007 test results, the examinees' MPS in Math rose by 6 percentage points, Science by 12.3 percentage points, Filipino by 10.9 percentage points, and Hekasi by 10.5 percentage points.
However, their MPS in English went up by only 1.4 percentage points.
Test results also showed that female examinees outscored their male counterparts - 66.1 percent to 64 percent - while students in rural areas performed better than their counterparts in urban areas - 65.5 percent to 64.4 percent.
According to Benito, the top performing DepEd divisions included Cavite, Batangas, Oriental Mindoro, Southern Leyte, Romblon, and Bataan.
The top performing schools included Molino, Governor Espiritu, Bayanan, Likha Molino and Talaba, all in Cavite; Inicbulan in Batangas; San Miguel in Bulacan; Milagroso in Southern Leyte; and Agbaluto in Romblon, among others.
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