THE DEPARTMENT of Education denied allegation there has been a policy on mass promotion, stressing the agency never allowed such practice.

“Wala po talagang ganyang policy sa DepEd. There’s no issuance that even allows mass promotion,” Education spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa said.

“But we do understand as a field maaaring nangyayari ‘yung ganyan and that’s why that is something that we are looking into in terms of ano ba ‘yung mga rason,” he added.

Philippine Business for Education Executive Director Justine Raagas said it has received reports from teachers that 10 to 30 percent of the students doesn’t meet the competency level.

“We found out, from teachers, walang data nito kasi hindi ito reported and hindi kino-collect ‘yung data, pero on the ground conversations—kinukwento nila or sinasabi nila is 10 to 30 percent of their students who are in their class actually don’t meet the competency level,” Raagas added.

To address the learning poverty, PBED suggested students must know how to assess themselves academically and lessen the workload of the teachers to have enough time to focus in providing quality education.