MANILA, Philippines?Public school students received barely passing marks in achievement tests in Filipino over the last five years, with high school students doing more poorly than grade schoolers, according to results of the elementary and secondary National Achievement Test (NAT).

The Department of Education?s National Educational Testing and Research Center (NETRC) said that while scores had gradually improved annually, grades dropped from the mean score of 75.50 percent for elementary students to 58.18 percent for high school students in the last school year.

Scores have improved by almost 15 percentage points for elementary students from 60.68 percent in school year 2005-2006 to the latest at 75.50 percent, according to the NETRC. In comparison, scores in English ranged from 54.05 percent in 2005-2006 to last school year?s 68.51 percent.

In high school, Filipino scores were lower than grade schoolers as scores ranged from 46.66 percent from school year 2005-06 to 58.18 percent in 2009-10. Scores in English dropped from 51.2 percent five years ago to 46.86 percent in the last school year.
Silver lining

The figures, however, showed a silver lining: While still below the passing mark, students did best in Filipino out of all subject areas tested by the NAT and scores inched their way to the target mean score of 75 percent.

?It?s been improving but it?s still short of our target as of 2010. It means that the methodologies of teaching have improved and we are seeing the effects on children,? said Ofelia Eustaquio, a senior education program specialist and Filipino curriculum expert from the Bureau of Elementary Education.

English is still the official medium of instruction in public schools. Two years ago, the education department adopted a program encouraging the use of the mother tongue, including regional and provincial vernaculars other than Filipino, in teaching students at the early stages of formal education.

Prevailing problems

Eustaquio attributed the poor showing of students to prevailing problems in the country?s public school system, among them a shortage in books and unmanageable class sizes.

Students, especially those in their formative years, also had a hard time coping with the use of a foreign language, inhibiting their learning curve.

?This problem of poor achievement among students is because of the mismatch of the language used at home and those used in schools. This is one of the reasons why there are many dropouts. Poverty is not the only reason, it?s the language used in school,? Eustaquio said.

?If the teacher uses English in teaching as the medium of instruction, the children are either very passive, they?re not listening at all or restless because they can?t understand, they can?t answer questions,? she added.

Parroting teacher

Instead of learning, students thus resort to parroting what their teacher says, Eustaquio noted.

?I?ve observed a school where a teacher points to a word and students read in unison. But once you ask them to read on their own, they can?t do it,? she said.

Filipino is among subject areas covered by the NAT that students in Grade 6 and second year high school take before the close of every school year.

The exit evaluation for graduating high school seniors do not include a test on Filipino.