College of the Immaculate Conception

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
In

Current Issues and Trends in Education

A
Reaction Paper
in

PHILIPPINE EDUCATION

ARNULFO V. SANTIAGO, JR.

MAEd in GEN. SCIENCE

College of the Immaculate Conception

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively
and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is
the goal of true education.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

The educational system of the Philippines had suffered

several phases of development wherein there are lots of
revisions

and

changes

that

have

been

made

in

order

to

withstand the needs of each individual and to the society as

well.

Ive

learned

that

our

Philippine

education

system

started from unpolished education, which means started from

informal,
Spanish

unstructured,

period.

Philippine
progress
society

As

come

is

such
up

lacking

generation

education

until

and

an

where

method

races

continuing

time

with

and

of

the

organized

its

from

passed

pre-

by,

our

development

and

government
educational

and

the

system

spearheaded by the Department of Education (DepEd) and is

connected
providing

to

the

declaration

functional

of

literacy

EFA
and

2015

that

producing

aims

of

globally

competitive graduates of the society.

Hence, upon looking with the status of education in the
Philippines we can hardly speak to it without suggesting at
once

the

education.

school,
To

for

most

the

school

Filipino

is

the

educators,

center
the

of

our

educational

process and the school process are one. It is in the school

where

we

have

sure

manifestation

of

the

educational

process.

College of the Immaculate Conception

A student in school is expected to

grow,

to

improve, and to advance in his studies, and is regarded by

some as the whole education.
I learned that we have an excellent educational system
in

the

Philippines.

What

makes

the

education

really

deteriorating is the support of the government. Why? It is

deteriorating to a certain degree especially in the rural
public schools. This is due to accommodating fifty students
or more in a sub-standard classroom, sub-standard books,
lack

of

speech

rooms,

lack

of

science

apparatus

and

laboratory, and learning materials that greatly affect the

learning condition of the students. In addition, teachers
are

sometime

stressed

with

the

condition

of

jam-packed

classrooms and handling six to seven classes a day. We can

imagine how unsuitable that atmosphere is, not conducive for
learning anymore.
Furthermore, Broken-down and sub-standard classrooms,
lack of teaching and learning materials have been a longtime problem in the Philippine education. Though, as of
today due to K to 12 programs, we are not using those substandard textbooks and obsolete books due to the use of
teachers
department

and
of

learners
education.

module
But

being
still,

supplied
its

supply

by
is

the
not

sufficient

College of the Immaculate Conception

to cover the number of students enrolled

in

public schools. In addition, some subjects do not even have

the prescribed textbooks that will meet the competencies
needed by the learners.
As a public high school teacher, one of the examples
why

personally

say

that

education

should

be

taken

seriously by some implementers is the existing problems of

slow readers and even students who could hardly read a twosyllable or more words. Moreover, students have a hard time
in

solving

simple

arithmetic

problems

which

is

very

alarming. In line with this, it has been already expected

that an elementary graduate can already read and comprehend,
but there are some who were tagged as slow readers and a few
considered to be non-readers and non-numerates in public
high schools, especially in the grade 7 level. High school
teachers are not tasked of teaching them the very basic of
reading and solving, yet the problem is there. Why do we
allow students in elementary that could hardly read, write,
and solve to be promoted in high school? They will only have
a hard time coping with a more challenging task in learning.
I

realized

that

education

is

forever

developing,

changing, growing, and alive. It is a continuous process.

One should not terminate finding opportunities for learning

new

College of the Immaculate Conception

things; the knowledge that a person acquires

for

himself/ herself is his/her treasure in life. Yes, it is

slowly

deteriorating,

sad

but

true,

with

the

different

factors involved. Idealistic curriculum should not only be

reflected in a paper as a mere vision, but it should be
something realistic and attainable. Try to take note of the
newly implemented Curriculum, yet, insufficient supply of
textbooks or learning materials remained a problem. It is
really sad and depressing when we look at our public school
system nowadays. Teachers in the far-flung areas or in rural
public

schools

will

have

hard

time

reproducing

the

learning materials and students also will have a hard time

doing

follow-up

activity

for

the

suggested

topic.

It

should also take into consideration that not all public

schools have the Internet connection, and not all teachers
and students are computer literate. Thus, teachers will have
a

hard

time

modifying

the

activities

to

be

given

and

students are the one who is affected by this. With this,

there

is

no

assurance

that

the

ultimate

goal

of

our

educational system will be achieved.

We may assume that education standard will be more
improved

if

the

government

and

implementers

of

our

educational system will work hand-in-hand to move with its

College of the Immaculate Conception

and implement innovations. Furthermore,

trends

learning

competencies should be designed to enable one to learn the

skills and positive human values that will help one grow
into

an

articulate,

socially

committed,

and

productive

Filipino citizen. Moreover, it should not only tend to rely

on the theories, rather than on practical things which will
be useful once a student leaves the school.
There are factors involved in the educational system we
have

today

and

the

solution

lies

primarily

in

our

government. The government should do something about this

issue.

Education

is

very

important

if

we

want

to

have

progressive country. Improvement of curriculum should be

done because it is really necessary and not because we have
a new set of political leaders in our country. It should be
a

long-time

information

productive
and

program

technological

age

geared
and

towards
not

just

the
for

experimentation. Filipinos are really talented and smart.

All we need is good education to unearth the talents and to
learn more so we can be more competitive out there.
As a teacher being enrolled in the graduate school, how
can I contribute help in upgrading the educational system of
our country? I believe that one of the ways of upgrading and
enhancing our education is by letting ourselves be educated

College of the Immaculate Conception

in higher studies. I strongly believed that its an avenue
for us to grow professionally and to become a good and
effective

mentor,

not

only

to

our

students

but

to

the

community as well. Being the torch bearer, I believed that

teachers must have enough knowledge, skills, and values in
order to do our roles and responsibilities well toward the
betterment

of

the

students,

community,

and

our

country

indeed. Being a catalyst of change, it must emanate within

us so that this concern in our educational system in the
Philippines will be resolved in the future.