Bottom 10

We were no longer last or kulelat again in ranking, but the country remained in the bottom 10 in the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in terms of mathematics, science and reading comprehension.

Instead of wringing our hands in despair over the unsurprising results, we can consider areas of improvement that were highlighted in the PISA country reports. The state of Philippine education is a national disaster, and several points raised in the report can provide some focus.

The PISA study, conducted last year by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), had 690,000 participants representing 29 million 15-year-olds in 81 countries and economies.

In the Philippines, 7,193 students from 188 schools participated, taking two tests each an hour long using multiple choice questions as well as questions requiring students to construct their own answers.

The results tend to track levels of national development, indicating the importance of the competencies tested in competitiveness and progress. The top 10 in math performance were Singapore, Macao, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Estonia, Switzerland, Canada and the Netherlands.

We should be worried that in Southeast Asia, we were seventh in math, reading and science. In math, Vietnam followed Singapore at 31st place. Brunei placed 40th; Malaysia, 53rd; Thailand, 57th, and Indonesia, 69th. The Philippines was at 75th place, ahead only of Cambodia at 80th. Laos and Myanmar did not participate.

In reading comprehension, the top 10 were Singapore, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Estonia, Macao, Canada, the United States and New Zealand. In Southeast Asia, Vietnam again came closest to Singapore at 34th place, with Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia ahead of the Philippines and Cambodia.

In science, similar rankings were seen for those in Southeast Asia. The best 10 were Singapore, Japan, Macao, Taiwan, South Korea, Estonia, Hong Kong, Canada, Finland and Australia.

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“The tests explore how well students can solve complex problems, think critically and communicate effectively,” the OECD explained. “This gives insights into how well education