Teacher solon to DepEd: Stop being onion-skinned

Instead of demanding an apology, the Department of Education should address the concerns raised by the World Bank about the Philippine education system, a lawmaker said on Tuesday.

ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro questioned if the national government would really do something once the World Bank issues an apology.

She pointed out that the DepEd should instead provide concrete plans to address the perennial problems in the country's education system.

"[The] DepEd and the Duterte administration should be ashamed for its abandonment and negligence in the worsening education crisis in the country, not because the World Bank published a report," Castro said in a statement.

"The World Bank report simply reflected the effects of an education system that has been neglected and abandoned in terms of providing adequate budget to address the perennial shortages in facilities and learning materials, the undersupported, overworked and underpaid teachers, the large class sizes and limited access to the blended distance learning amid the pandemic," she added.

She said Filipino students would not be ranking low in international assessments if only the DepEd and the national government listened to the demands of the teachers and students about education reforms.

"With the publication of the World Bank report and the poor ranking in international assessments, we challenge the Department of Education to heed the demands of our teachers and students for better access to quality education, address the perennial problems to solve the worsening crisis in education," Castro said.

"Stop being onion-skinned with the publication of a report that simply reflected the realities of the education situation in the country and do its job," she added.

The World Bank has reported that more than 80% of Filipino students do not know what they should know in school.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones slammed the World Bank for its report, stating that it allegedly made conclusions based on old data, not taking into account the recent initiatives on education reform, and failing to give the Philippine government a heads-up about the report.

Briones has demanded a public apology from the World Bank. -MDM, GMA News