MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday suggested the declaration of “crisis in education” following the World Bank study’s findings which put the country’s educational system in a bad light.
READ: 80% of PH kids don’t know what they should know – World Bank
“Para sa akin, dapat magdeklara na tayo ng krisis sa edukasyon,” Robredo said in DZXL radio. “Para pagtuunan na ng mas malaking pansin.”
(For me, we should declare a crisis on education, so the country could focus on it.)
Earlier, the Department of Education disputed the WB’s report, calling it “insulting,” prompting WB to apologize and temporarily take down the findings on their website.
Robredo, however, said that the government should do everything to subvert the “crisis” in education “rather than being defensive.”
There are 1 million students who did not enroll this school year, while 1,179 private schools were closed, according to Robredo, citing DepEd’s data.
She also noted the big “digital divide” between private and public schools. Citing DepEd’s data, Robredo noted that 41.2 percent of private schools conduct classes online, while only 2.1 percent of public schools do so. Instead, 87.4 percent of public schools use modular instruction, while only 28 percent of private schools do so.
Robredo also hoped the World Bank study could include the updated data to see where the country’s state of education is, but she feared that the pandemic would exacerbate the worsening state of education of the country, citing the mentioned data.
“Sana magkaroon ng update based on the latest data, para mas alam natin kung saan tayo ngayon,” she said.
“Pero magiging very honest ako, more than a year nang wala sa paaralan ang mga bata. So ako, ang tingin ko mas na-exacerbate pa, mas lumala pa ang sitwasyon. Sana mali ako,” she added.
(I hope we could have an update based on the latest data so we can see where we are right now. But I will be very honest, it’s been more than a year since the children have been out of school, so I think the situation is exacerbated. I hope I’m wrong.)