Issues and Concerns on Philippine Education System Secondary Level

By: Aposaga, Elenita C.

Borlado, Elvie G.
Clark, Irene B.
Gonzaga, Ruwina S.
Manguiob, Adelaida L.
Pangantihon, Gracelda T.

All Things are Insufficient

Ms. Anabelle Dela Cerna, Vice Chairman of the Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC) said that Our
system has not solved problems like lack of classrooms, shortage of teachers, lack of books and
chairs, no comfort rooms in schools, no water system etcetera.

Teachers Incompetence

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), said that aside from the lack of learning materials,
another problem is that the teachers tasked to handle SHS are "not prepared and competent"
enough to teach the SHS subjects after undergoing only few days of training.

Teachers Condition

Though a teaching job in DepEd is said to be stable and many would dream of becoming a DepEd
Teacher because of job security and employment benefits, the salary of DepEd teachers was
always been an issue.

Specific statistics for teachers are highlighted in an article, "Teacher Statistics for the Philippines".
It was mentioned that public school teachers are overworked based on high pupil:teacher ratio,
teaching hours per day, and teaching hours per year. With long working hours and larger class
sizes, teachers are unlikely to have the time, energy and opportunity for professional development
and lesson plans especially when the curriculum is changing so often.

Declining Quality of Secondary Education

There was a decline in the quality of the Philippine education, especially at the elementary and
secondary levels. For example, the results of standard tests conducted among elementary and
high school students, as well as in the NCAE and Board Exams for college students, were way below
the target mean score.