ACT TEACHERS Partylist Representative France Castro on Tuesday urged the Department of Education to address the worsening education crisis instead of seeking an apology from the World Bank.

“DepEd and the Duterte administration should be ashamed for its abandonment and negligence in the worsening education crisis in the country, not because the World Bank published a report,” Castro said.

The lawmaker noted that the report simply reflected the effects of an education system that has been neglected.

“What will an apology from the World Bank do to benefit the quality of education in the country? What will the DepEd do with the report if the World Bank informs them of the report before publishing? The Department of Education and the Duterte administration should provide concrete plans to address the perennial problems that were also reflected in the World Bank report instead of being onion-skinned and demanding an apology,” Castro said.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones on Monday demanded a public apology from the World Bank for basing its report on old data.

She said that the World Bank used the  assessment by the Programme for International Student Assessment in 2019 as basis of its report that majority of Filipino students have proficiencies lower than their levels.

Castro said  that if the education department heeded the demands of the teachers and students for reforms, learners would not rank low in international assessments.

“Lalong dapat mahiya ang DepEd at ang administrasyong Duterte sa mamamayang Filipino dahil pinapabayaan at hindi pinapahalagahan ang edukasyon ng ating mga kabataan. Mahiya sila, hindi dahil nilabas ng World Bank ang realidad na lumalala ang krisis sa edukasyon sa bansa kundi dahil sa hinahayaan nilang lalong lumala pa ito dahil walang konkretong plano ang DepEd para bigyang solusyon ang matagal nang problema sa edukasyon,” she said.