K-12 curriculum needs no changes but ‘better implementation’ amid the Philippines’ low scores at Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Casimiro A. Ynares Sr. Memorial National High School (CAYSMNHS) Principal Ma. Asuncion Sierra stressed.
In an interview, Sierra urged teachers to have stronger connection with students having less outside school activities, supporting DepEd Rizal School Division Superintendent (SDS) Cherrylou D. Repia’s statement to call to ‘focus on academics.’
“It is an eye opener para lalo nilang pag-igihin yung pagtuturo. More contact dapat with students. It is not the curriculum to change but yung manner ng pagdedeliver natin sa mga bata, kasi everybody has a part, lahat yun magiging domino effect,” Sierra said.
PISA assesses competency of 15 year old students in reading, Mathematics, and Science literacy every three years in which the country participated for the first time to determine the K-12 effectiveness in the country.
The Philippines, however, ranked last in reading comprehension and second to the loiwest in mathematical and scientific ability among 79 countries with 340, 353, and 357 respectively.
The Division of Rizal also expressed in Ugnayang Gurong Rizaleno that students should not be required to memorize, instead engaging them to deepen their knowledge on the lesson.
“Make sure that children will be life-long partners. Chill-chill lang sa pagpapamemorize. Learners need not to memorize the lessons,” Repia said.
On the other hand, Sierra pointed out that changing the medium of instruction from Filipino to English for primary years (from four to 11 years old) will still need implementation of other programs to improve comprehension of students.
“Hindi lang kasi yun sa communication effective, sa ibang aspect din. Dapat lahat nagtutulungan, hindi lang strengthening the curriculum in terms of reading ability,” she said.
In addition, the principal aims for other programs that will focus on the comprehension of the students to further improve the quality of education in the country.
THE ECHOES 