K-12 blamed for low math, science ranks

MANILA, Philippines — The failed K-12 program of the Department of Education (DepEd) is to blame for the dismal ratings of Filipino students in a recent international assessment for mathematics and science, a lawmaker said on Sunday.

ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro said the K-12 “congested curriculum” was a failure, resulting in Grade 4 students from the Philippines recording the lowest scores among participants from 58 countries in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019.

“DepEd’s incompetence immensely impacts teachers and students’ performance. The poor performance of Filipino students in [the TIMSS 2019] marks the failure of DepEd’s K-12 program,” Castro said in a statement.

“Among the outputs of DepEd’s incompetence and haphazard implementation of so-called education reform is the curriculum congestion, which compromises adequate teaching time and students’ deeper understanding. This is worsening under the case of the blended learning scheme,” she added.

Castro reiterated the need to abolish the K-12 program and urged the government to “create a curriculum that will meet the needs of the society, and to invest more in education so we can address the issues of quality education.” INQ