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ANNOUNCEMENT: We are glad to announce that the postponed session on “Strengthening communities through campus journalism and digital citizenship” will push through online on Friday, May 22, from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm.

Organizers postponed the event to comply with the COVID-19 precautionary measures of the Department of Education (DepEd). It will now carry the theme: “ : Campus and community journalism in a time of pandemic.”

This is a free webinar about the role of community and student journalists in providing reliable and accurate information during a pandemic.

▪️SPEAKERS:

We have the same set of speakers for the webinar headlined by Atom Araullo, GMA documentarist/anchor and FYT chief creative officer.

Other speakers include Lyf.PH CEO Rupert Ambil, FYT chief content officer Voltaire Tupaz, and Internews - Philippines media engagement specialist Kathryn Raymundo.

We’ve also invited DepEd to help us understand learning and communicating under the “new normal.”

Participants will receive a certificate after the webinar.

To confirm your attendance, kindly accomplish this registration form: https://bit.ly/3fG5sE8

Happy Press Freedom Day! https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159096712259453&id=142802334452

Today is World Press Freedom Day! Hats off to all journalists and media workers who are on the frontlines to defend everyone’s right to information especially at these difficult times.

NEWS | PIDS study: SHS struggle to write in English

A study produced by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) revealed that some Senior High School (SHS) students lack skills in English writing.

In her report, PIDS researcher Karen Brillantes, also shared that the skill insufficiency of SHS students in English writing was primarily because of an ‘ambitious’ curriculum and a lack of learning resources.

“The students often end up submitting projects for mere compliance only, preventing them from maximizing the learning they should have been getting from SHS education,” the PIDS researcher emphasized.

The PIDS serves as the Philippine government's primary socioeconomic policy think tank which aims to provide studies have supported the Philippine government in the formulation of relevant policies and programs that are vital to attain inclusive and sustainable development.

In addition, News Writers’ Society of the Philippines (NeWS PH) Senior Adviser Mark Angelo Mañez explained that problems like this arose since the SHS programs are still on its developing stage.

“It is still in the developing stage, kaya lumalaki ang gap between students from public and private schools. Mas mataas ang level ng English ng mga private school students at mas bihasa sila on that term,” Mañez further emphasized.

He also added that the deficiency of skills in English writing also implies why Philippines got the lowest score in reading comprehension on the latest release of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results.

“As the scores turn out, sa English talaga mababa ang mga Pilipino,” the senior adviser said.

Mañez recommended that English teachers should provide intensive remedial action for students in order to aid the problem in English skills.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international examination that examines what students know in reading, mathematics and science, where Philippines notably placed last in reading comprehension among 79 countries in the results released on December 3, last year.

The students are not the only problem

Brillantes also explained that aside from the students who have problems in understanding lessons, the lack of human and learning resources, school buildings, facilities and equipment also affect the teaching-learning process.

“SHS teachers also face difficulties in delivering the curricula due to insufficient guidelines, inadequate materials, and preparation resulting to students carrying the burden from the problem in program implementation,” the report mentioned.

Brillantes explained that these problems in the education program are just “mere birthing pains” which are usual in implementing new programs.

“Certainly, the SHS program is facing many challenges, which hopefully are mostly mere birthing pains that can be addressed as soon as implementation procedures continue to stabilize and take root,” she ended.

On SHS track bias

Aside from the lack of skills in English writing, the report also stated that a balance between the academic and sports or arts tracks would help the students who find difficulty in adjusting to SHS education, especially that the sports and arts tracks require hands-on experiences.

“On top of their regular academic programs, the athletes, for instance, still need to join different activities, such as sports competitions, to expose them to opportunities outside SHS,” Brillantes said.

On the down side, testaments from students who chose the sports and arts tracks reveal that teachers and other students look down on them.

“DepEd should help them understand why there has to be different SHS tracks, as it is currently unclear to both the students and the teachers, leading to bias against those pursuing sports and arts tracks,” the PIDS researcher explained the role of the Department of Education (DepEd) in addressing the issue.

Moreover, the lack of schools that offer sports and arts track is evident as the report showed that no less than 10,883 out of the total 11,087 SHS institutions fail to offer either sports or arts track.

Regions such as CALABARZON, Central Luzon and Central Visayas were highlighted as the regions were the mentioned tracks are the least offered.

In contrast, the report also revealed that 85 percent of SHS institutions offer academic courses, while 62 percent offer the Technical-Vocational Livelihood (TVL) Track.

“Many students fail to enter the strands they like simply because of the unavailability of tracks at provincial and regional levels,” Brillantes claimed.

She also added that the availability of such tracks is important since the SHS track of choice should be aligned to the interest of the students.

In response to the said findings of the PIDS, the Department of Education launched the ‘Sulong EduKalidad’ program which aims to review and update the K-12 curriculum, and to upskill and reskill teachers as part of its key reform areas to develop basic quality education.

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Report by AJ Lozano
Photo from Rappler
Layout by Scott Esguerra

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