MANILA, Philippines — It was still a good decision for the Philippines to participate in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) despite its students’ getting the lower ranking in reading comprehension compared to shoe in 79 other countries, Barry Gutierrez, spokesperson of Vice President Leni Robredo, said on Sunday.
“At least, even if the results are saddening, we know now that there are these problems, and now we know about them. The challenge to us what will we do next? How will we address it?” Gutierrez said in Filipino during “BISErbisyong LENI,” the Vice President’s weekly show aired over AM radio station DZXL.
Gutierrez lamented how war-marred countries such as Lebanon and Bosnia and Herzegovina placed higher than the Philippines.
“It was really chaotic there before. And in two decades, they were able to catch up to us, and even surpassed us in terms of quality of education,” Gutierrez said.
He said that Robredo had various projects directed towards improving the state of classrooms in the country as she recognized the importance of education.
The results of PISA 2018 of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed that the Philippines ranked the lowest out of 79 countries in reading comprehension with a score of 340.
This was way below the 487 average score in reading comprehension of all participating countries.
The Philippines scored 353 in mathematics and 357 in science — both below the average score of all participating countries as well.
Reading comprehension and fake news
“According to this assessment that the reading comprehension is low, it’s not surprising why many fall victim to fake news,” Gutierrez noted.
He said that Denmark strengthened its education system by teaching students how to distinguish legitimate from fake news.
For Gutierrez, that is the most effective way to combat fake news.
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