This is disheartening. I thought this was just mediocre phase. I didn’t know we are failing.

We know that the only the proficiency in English, Science and Math of Filipino students are mediocre. Or so I thought.

To compound the educational problem, Filipino students now even suck at Pilipino, our mother tongue. How ironic.

The DepEd revealed these following facts:

THE 2005 National Assessment Test (NAT) in the secondary level showed the declining proficiency and knowledge of Filipino students in the Pilipino subject.

“The NAT 2005 test result showed a 42.48 percentage proficiency level compared to 61.26 NAT exams conducted in 2001. At the secondary level, we can see a sharp decline of the students’ knowledge in Pilipino subject,” said DepEd officer-in-charge Fe Hidalgo.

Meanwhile, in the recent NAT for school year 2004-2005, public elementary pupils obtained low averages of 59.10 percent in math, 54.12 percent in science and 59.1 percent in English. The passing average is 75 percent. The mean-percentage of public high school students was also below the passing mark.

The DepEd have been conducting seminars and measures aimed specifically at increasing the competency and proficiency of teachers in the core subjects like Science, English and Math. Now they will have to include Pilipino.

I believe this is not just a result of teacher deficiencies. Remember that learning goes beyond the classroom. The Filipino society as “teachers” to the Filipino youth have failed because we have developed a culture of mediocrity and ineptitude. Instead of giving importance to science and the arts we give importance to Politics and Showbiz (although I can no longer see the distinction between the two). Sad to say there is no “art” in kind of the show business we have today. There is no honor in the present political system. Both have bastardized the Filipino language, culture and values. Look at our movies and TV shows. Look at the news.

This is not just simply a loss of competency and proficiency. This is deeply rooted. This is a cultural and moral problem. It will take time to reverse the effects. But it can be done. Together.