Without our private schools, the country would do even worse in international student assessments as public schools consistently miss the average score while private schools exceed the same. In the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) 2022, public school students obtained an overall score of 340.66 points. The average is 352.66 points. Private school students scored 412.33 points, thus the country ended up with an overall score of 352.66 points, landing it in the 77th spot instead of the 80th. This also happened in the Pisa 2018 and for sure in the 2019 Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics, 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, and likewise in the National Admission Test (NAT).
The Department of Education (DepEd) and Second Congressional Commission on Education (EdCom II) apparently do not want the world to know that private schools bear public schools on their backs in international student assessments so they never openly acknowledge the fact. Worse, EdCom II insults private schools by making it appear they are in the same boat as public schools. It has been conducting endless consultations, but never with private elementary and high school educators.
The EdCom II and DepEd went out of their way to visit and purportedly learn from two Gapan City schools which made good in the NAT despite financial constraints, but are not interested in how private schools outdid public schools by 71.67 points and 29 notches in the Pisa 2022.
Estanislao Albano Jr.,
casigayan@yahoo.com