ISINISI ng Board for Professional Teachers sa sistema sa higher education ang mababang performance sa Licensure Examination for Teachers sa nakalipas na limang taon.

Sa pagdinig ng Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, inihayag ni Dr. Rosita Navarro, chairperson ng Board for Professional Teachers, na mula 2013 hanggang 2017, wala pang 30 porsiyento ang passing rate sa elementary level at nasa 48 porsiyento sa secondary level.

“Why is it so low? Our first time takers, ang baba po. Obviously, there is cause to this especially if they went to our SUC. In a perfect world, we want all of them to pass. In a reasonable world, at least naman po 70% ang pumapasa,” pahayag ni Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.

Ipinaliwanag naman ni Navarro na isa sa nakikita nilang dahilan ay ang maluwag na sistema sa pagkuha ng kursong edukasyon.

“This is the result of open enrollment. There is no selective enrollment, there is no selection for the course, there is no selective retention for the course. They are all enrolled and they all passed and why because that is the demand of the parents, community and also the need of schools,” paliwanag ni Navarro.

Idinagdag ng opisyal na maraming unibersidad at kolehiyo ang hindi nagtatakda ng high school average sa pagtanggap sa kursong edukasyon kung saan kahit 75 percent ang average ay tinatanggap.

Bukod dito, sinabi ni Navarro na hindi katulad sa ibang kurso na kinakailangan na may limit sa average bago makasulong sa susunod na year level, sa edukasyon ay walang required average.

“Ang ibig ninyong sabihin, in our present system as long as you pass the entrance exam, you can take education as your course?” tanong ni Gatchalian na sinagot ni Navarro na, “And to top it all there is no selective retention.”

Nang tanungin si Navarro kung payag sila sa ganoong sistema, sumagot ito na “Of course not. The result is in the performance in board exam.”

Inalmahan naman ni Commission on Higher Education Chairman Popoy de Vera ang pahayag ni Navarro na para sa kanya,  ang kahulugan ay mistulang walang ginagawa ang mga kolehiyo at unibersidad sa kalidad ng pagtuturo.

Sinabi ni De Vera na maraming unibersidad ang hindi man nakatuon sa grado ay mataas naman ang nakukuhang grado sa mga licensure examinations.

Ang pagdinig ay may kinalaman sa kalidad ng mga guro na naglalayong makabuo ng mga hakbangin upang mapataas pa ito.

“I want to put emphasis on teacher education because the quality of our teachers is as good as the quality of our teacher education. If we strengthen the Department of Education, which accounts for almost 85 percent of our students and 75 percent of our teachers, then we strengthen the nation’s foundation and its goals and development,” diin ni Gatchalian.