Some Filipinos suggested that the education department should prioritize improving students’ performance in basic subjects, such as reading, before introducing coding into the Philippine curriculum.
The Department of Education (DepEd) aims to incorporate coding or computer programming and utilize technology into the Philippine curriculum so that teachers can focus on teaching instead of performing administrative tasks.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara on Thursday, September 19, said it is the shared vision of DepEd and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to enhance the quality of education in the Philippines “by integrating technology and digital literacy into the curriculum.”
He added that the country aspires to learn from its more developed Southeast Asian neighbor, Singapore, particularly its success in teaching coding at a young age.
“We are working to incorporate coding into our curriculum and are utilizing educational technology, such as analytics, to assess learners in real-time. This will allow teachers to focus more on teaching and less on administrative tasks, ultimately improving the quality of education,” Angara said last Thursday.
“Our biggest asset is our people. Under President Marcos Jr’s leadership, we are envisioning a more creative and innovative Filipino learner, which will be a significant boost to the industry,” he added.
Angara said that the Philippines has always been a key player in the global workforce, noting that it produces over a million graduates yearly from basic and tertiary education systems.
Coding or computer programming is the language that tells a program what to do.
It refers to instructions that a computer can understand and execute. These are written in a programming language or a set of rules and symbols that programmers use to communicate with computers.
For some Filipinos, DepEd should prioritize improving Pinoys’ performance in core subjects like math, reading and science before considering letting them code.
“Coding isn’t for everyone. And everyone doesn’t have to be coders. Just improve the education system so that students can acquire enough skills in whatever field they want,” an online user commented.
“Teach them the basic first. Daming Tagalog na lang, wrong spelling pa. Simpleng A-E-I-O-U, mali pa. High school na, ‘di pa maka-construct ng proper english sentence. Promote programs that [help] reading comprehension& [and] creative writing. Similar to college, prerequisites bago major subjects,” another X user wrote.
“Focus muna sa basic math and science bago mag-code. Pati Filipino language, focus din doon,” a different Filipino commented.
“Stick to the basic first. The 3Rs. Reading (with comprehension), writing (includes language, grammar and spelling), aRithmetic (mathematics),” another online user commented.
“Coding is something advanced… perhaps focus on understanding how to use basic computer functions first and actual literacy. Not to mention, this requires a premise that all students have access to computers… Which isn’t the case,” a different online user said.
An online user shared an infographic about Filipino students being among the weakest when it comes to math, reading, and science in the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).
“Here’s a thought; adding anything else on top of an education platform already broken to begin with WON’T do anything. Instead, it’ll just make the whole thing worse! Strengthen the fundamentals [or] operating system first before the add ons!” the online user said.
The 2022 PISA revealed that 15-year-old Filipino students are five to six years behind their foreign peers when it comes to learning competencies 2022.
This marked the second time the Philippines placed in the bottom 10 out of 81 countries in reading comprehension, mathematics and science.
PISA measures a 15-year-old’s ability to use reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.
Fifteen-year-old Filipino students also had one of the weakest creative thinking skills globally, based on the 2022 PISA.
Reports said the Philippines’ mean score of 14 was well below the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average of 33.