(continued from March 07, 2021)
Going back to what have been assessed, we have covered Educational Service Delivery and Quality, Transaction Convenience and Ease of Accreditation, and Program Implementation and Support. To refresh you all on my assessment of these three areas, I would like to reiterate that both Educational Service Delivery and Quality and Program Implementation and Support need much improvement since most of their respective criteria fall below average. Contrastively, I assessed Transaction Convenience and Ease of Accreditation as average
For us to be aware of the scoring process I proposed, I am giving it to you all once again for the last time:
1. Five (5) – Excellent
2. Four (4) – Above Average
3. Three (3) – Average
4. Two (2) – Below Average
5. One (1) – Needs improvement
6. Zero (0)–Failing
The scoring system per area is shown below for your reference:
1. 22 to 25 points– Excellent
2. 18 to 21 points – Above Average
3. 14 to 17 points– Average
4. 10 to 13 points– Below Average
5. 9 to12 points – Needs Improvement
6. 8 and below– Failing
As I promised you all, here is my assessment of all criteria under the area Assessment of Professional Competence, Excellence, and Security of Personnel:
Assessment of Professional Competence, Excellence, and Security of Personnel (25 points)
Definition:This area covers teachers’, staffs’, and officials’ professional qualifications, performance of their duties, and employment status. It also focuses on how officials establish their presence on traditional and social media and become accessible to the public both online and offline.
- Top officials’ media presence, accessibility, and performance of their duties – 3/5 (Average)
ASSESSMENT: DepEd has long been one of the main subjects of both print and audiovisual media. It has also been a major topic of interest both in news articles and opinion pieces (this column included, for very obvious reasons). In delving on top officials’ media presence, they are excellent resource persons (though on a surface level); however, they seem to be inconsistent with their statements (one particular example is the supreme education czarina Leonor Briones) and at times, they try to desperately cover their tracks by spewing self-propping accolades aimed at them and at DepEd, which cannot be even slightly akin to the self-leveling suspension of the classic full-sized Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman. One particular example is the “readiness” of DepEd for its school opening last August 24; however, Secretary Briones shot herself in the foot when she later on admitted that the modules were not ready. Another notable example was when one of the undersecretaries acknowledged a mistake on one of DepEd’s broadcasts but never tried to provide reallyconcrete solutions to the pervasive problem.In terms of accessibility, there are only very few officials who are accessible, therefore solidifying DepEd’s reputation for cold distance and unreachability akin to summoning deities for instantaneous succor. They purport to be reachable by email; however, it is the rank-and-file staff members who are more accessible and competent in terms of customer service and response. - Teachers’ work load and active conduct and presentation of research – 1/5 (Needs Improvement)
ASSESSMENT: There have been many teachers whom I have made friends with whenever I would attend conferences and seminars. Most of these teachers are in the public school sector and not a few of them have nothing but exasperation and burden over the numerous and onerous paperwork that DepEd has inundated and mandated them to accomplish in a short span of time. Paperwork that are supposed to be done by other agencies and other personnel have instead been entrusted to teachers, who are actually supposed to be teaching, assessing students’ works, and preparing lesson plans. What is happening nowadays in public schools is that teachers are being made to submit daily lesson logs and daily lesson plans, which surely rob them of the joy to enjoy their time (and tend to therefore lead them to their early deaths). Apart from that, we teachers are being asked to conduct research yet we are not given ample time for research. What is indeed ironic is that DepEd mandates teachers to conduct research as part of their promotion and their other requirements yet the department’s research outputs are shoddy andhaphazard most of the time. DepEd does not even provide teachers with realistic and attainable incentives for conducting research and does not even support teachers’ research endeavors. It is such a pity that teachers are expected to accomplish a lot yet they receive only a pittance and they are barely appreciated by the department, perhaps except for the yearly teacher appreciation day. - Teachers’ and staff members’ receptiveness to training – 2/5 (Below Average)
ASSESSMENT: DepEd has been utterly notorious for mandating its teachers to attend training even if these teachers are supposed to be teaching inside their respective classrooms. Some of these training programs are not supposed to be held during school days yet the pleas of many to lessen the already-overwhelming number of training activities have fallen on deaf ears. On the part of DepEd, it already adds insult to injury through the National Educators Academy of the Philippines because it deprives teacher training service providers of the chance to be accredited fully since they make requirements very stringent to the point of unreasonableness. The department is also guilty of misfeasance in terms of how they schedule and run training programs because it does not give many qualified trainers the chance to be able to share their expertise with our teachers. - Training, compensation, and job security of teachers and staff – 2/5 (Below Average)
ASSESSMENT: In terms of salary grade, most of our teachers are not well-compensated. Their salaries are less than enough to provide them with decent standards of living and with the comforts they need. Our teachers are overworked, overwhelmed, overburdened, and overtaxed because they receive a lot of backlash from parents and superiors even for the slightest of mistakes or perceived ones yet they are at the losing end whenever they are being tried. I have read many civil and criminal cases against teachers and most of them pertained to classroom management and execution of duties, and most of the teachers who were tried were innocent of the charges simply because their superiors chose to side with the aggrieved (who, in reality, were the aggressors and instigators). Talking about job security, a majority of teachers and other staff have not yet been regularized, especially in private schools. There are so many factors that come into play, such as performance evaluation results, patronage politics, divisiveness among colleagues, heavy competition, gossip mongering, and other similar factors.Being a teacher in the Philippines is not a walk in the park but a walk through blazing coals and a swim on shark-infested waters. - Stringency in screening applicants especially for teaching positions and for promotion to higher positions – 2/5 (Below Average)
ASSESSMENT: As I have just mentioned in item number four, patronage politics is a major factor behind the very problematic screening process for teachers. There are so many horror stories of teachers being made to do teaching demonstrations, only to be left out especially when a more suitable (?) candidate is eventually selected. There are also instances of promotion opportunities not being given to outspoken and progressive teachers simply because they oppose the current officials, as well as other teachers being passed over for promotion simply because they do not have the time and resources to pursue graduate studies (this is a very real scenario common among us teachers). There are some unqualified who have been promoted to higher positions simply because they are chummy with the top brass and they seem to have excelled in personal and subservient public relations and self-advertising. The sorry state of education is truly reflected in how teachers are screened, treated, compensated, and nurtured.
In adding all the scores per category, the total score in terms of Professional Competence, Excellence, and Security of Personnel is 10/25, which means that DepEd needs improvement in terms of how they create sustainable programs for teachers and personnel, how they perform in the service of every Filipino learner, and how they nurture and hone teachers and non-teaching staff.
Before we go on to the evaluation part, I would like to share with you once again the interpretation based on the overall score obtained by DepEd in my interpretation for the past four weeks:
A. 95 to 100 points – Excellent
B. 89 to 94 points – Above Average
C. 83 to 88 points – Average
D. 77 to 82 points – Below average
E. 71 to 76 points – Needs improvement
F. 70 points and below – Failing
To give you all a bird’s eye view of the scoring we have made, these are the scores per area and the total score, all with their corresponding interpretations:
| AREA | SCORE | INTERPRETATION |
| A.Educational Service Delivery and Quality | 11/25 | Below Average |
| B. Transaction Convenience and Ease of Accreditation | 15/25 | Average |
| C.Program Implementation and Support | 12/25 | Below Average |
| D.Professional Competence, Excellence, and Security of Personnel | 10/25 | Below Average |
| TOTAL SCORE | 48/100 | FAILING |
Let us all accept the fact that it will never be a walk in the park for DepEd to improve on its services because much leaves to be desired. We also have to admit that no matter how much the department exerts effort to cover its tracks and to shift the blame on someone or something else, we can never expect real change, especially when we do not do our duty as taxpayers to expose corruption, malfeasance, misfeasance, and other sins against the dutiful, tax-paying Filipino public.
What to watch out for this coming week’s issue: CONCRETE SOLUTIONS THAT WE PROPOSE FOR DEPED AND ITS STAKEHOLDERS AND PROGRAMS
If you have suggestions in terms of the education-related topics that you want me to feature, please feel free to send me an email to edteo.ramos@yahoo.com or to coachjet.inspirations@gmail.com and I will reply to you as soon as I receive your email.
