Group seeks closure of education programs of worst performing schools

The Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) renewed its call for the closure of the teacher education programs of the schools that have performed poorly in the last five years.

In a press conference at the EDSA Shangri-la Hotel on Monday, PBEd said 50 percent of the graduates of more than half of the country’s 1,200 teacher education institutions (TEIs) failed to pass the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) in 2014.

In its latest report, PBEd said "an alarming number of TEIs’ performed below the average national test-taker passing rate in 2014. These include 537 TEIs offering elementary teacher education and 774 TEIs offering secondary teacher education."

PBEd, a non-government organization supported by the Philippine business community, said “the performance of TEIs with less than 20% passing rate in the Secondary LET continues to deteriorate.”

Diane Fajardo, PBEd program for Teacher Quality, said for every good performing school, there are two bad performing ones.

“Those who are already in the worse category are getting worse,” she said.

Dr. Meliton Salazar, PBEd president, said it is highly important for the Philippines to have good teachers because “the future of our country is literally in the hands of teachers.”

He explained that on average, every teacher guides 300 to 400 students per year. An inadequately trained teacher, he added, cannot properly teach students.

School's performance

Salazar said those who wish to become teachers must be provided with adequate information about a school’s performance in the LET.

He said being consumers, students and their parents, have the right to know which schools provide good teacher education programs and which ones do not.

A list of best and worse performing schools in 2014 can be seen on the PBEd website. PBEd said the worst performing schools are located mostly in Mindanao, in Regions 9, 10, and 11.

Asked if PBEd has a program to help the Philippines worst performing schools, Salazar said this was beyond the mandate of their organization and that it was the government’s responsibility to ensure that these schools improve their performance.

Then, asked if they have tried to reach the 22 worst performing schools for comment, Fajardo said they have attempted to contact these schools but have failed to determine if they are still offering teacher education programs.

PBEd’s recommendations

Meanwhile, aside from asking for the closure of the teacher education programs of the worst performing schools, PBEd is also calling other reforms that include:

1. that Commission on Higher Education (CHED) should strictly monitor and evaluate the performance of TEIs;

2.  that the Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC) should institute and publish a comprehensive rating system to guide consumers on which schools are performing well and which are not;

3. that the PRC should implement a “three-strike” rule, meaning that education graduates can only take the LET for three times; after that they would be required to take a refresher course before being allowed to take the LET again.

—KBK, GMA News