Marcos wants DepEd to raise Phl students' PISA ranking

President Marcos yesterday ordered the Department of Education (DepEd) to double its efforts to improve the Philippines' performance in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which reported on Dec. 5, 2023 that Filipino 15-year-old students are five to six years behind their foreign peers in learning competencies.

- NEIL JAYSON SERVALLOS

"He was not disappointed (about the PISA result), but he wants us to keep working hard to improve our performance in PISA. Not only in PISA, but the performance of our students as a whole," DepEd Undersecretary for curriculum and teaching Gina Gonong said during a briefing at Malacañang.

For the second time, the Philippines landed in the bottom 10 out of 81 countries in reading comprehension, mathematics and science, based on the 2022 PISA.

Gonong said government agencies need to collaborate in addressing the nutrition of students, the national learning recovery program and teachers' welfare among others to raise the quality of student performance and the education sector as a whole.

The PISA, developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, measures the ability of a 15-year-old to use reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.

'Catch-up Fridays' begin

Starting today, public school students will spend every Friday enhancing their reading, writing and critical thinking skills and appreciation for values, health and peace education.