By: Dr. Rex Casiple
The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) recently released the results of September 2019 Licensure Examinations for Teachers (LET) given in 29 testing centers all over the Philippines, Hong Kong and Thailand. 28,973 out of 92,440, or 31.34%, passed the LET–Elementary.
24,066 were first takers, while 4,907 were repeaters. 54,179 out of 136,523, or 39.68%, passed the LET-Secondary. 48,447 were first takers, while 5,732 were repeaters.
Western Visayas Region performed high in both licensure examinations, with a passing percentage higher than the national average.
Furthermore, West Visayas State University(WVSU) in La Paz, Iloilo City (Rank #4), is included in the top performing schools at the national level, in the LET – Elementary, with 50 or more examinees and at least 80% passing percentage.
In the LET – Elementary, 51 out of 78 higher education institutions (HEIs)in the Region or 65.4% were high performing or with a passing average higher than that at the national level. Seventy one percent of the high performing HEIs were public higher education institutions composed of state colleges and universities (SUCs) and local colleges (LCs).
The top seven high-performing HEIs in the Region, with 50 and above examinees, in order, were West Visayas State University, University of Iloilo, ISAT University, Bacolod City College, Aklan State University-Ibajay Campus, Carlos A. Hilado Memorial State College in Talisay City and University of San Agustin.
2,272 out of 5,429 examinees in the Region, or 41.85%, passed in the said examination. Fifty-six percent (56%) of the first takers passed while 12% of the repeaters passed. Three out of 10 examinees were repeaters.
On the other hand, 4,415 out of 9,257 or 47.69% of the examinees from public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Region passed in the LET – Secondary. Fifty-five out of 100 HEIs in the Region or 55% were high performing. Thirty-three (33) out of 55 or 60% of these high performing HEIs were public higher education institutions. Six out of 10 first takers passed while 1 out of 10 repeaters passed.
Three out of 10 examinees were repeaters. The top seven high-performing HEIs in the Region, with 50 and above examinees, in order, were West Visayas State University, Philippine Normal University-Visayas in Cadiz City, Colegio San Agustin – Bacolod, University of Saint La Salle in Bacolod City, Central Philippine University, Aklan State University-Ibajay and West Visayas State University – Himamaylan Campus.
The West Visayas State University is CHED designated Center of Excellence (COE) in Teacher Education in Western Visayas. University of St. La Salle, ISAT University, University of San Agustin and Central Philippine University are CHED designated Centers of Development (CODs) in Teacher Education in Western Visayas.
The K-12 program of the government was tagged as the country’s biggest educational reform in basic education in 2013. Our direction was to make our education system globally competitive by adding two (2) more years in high school (Grade 11 and Grade 12).
However, the result of the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed the very low performance of the Philippines as compared to other countries in the world.
The PISA measures the students’ reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills. This low performance of the country in PISA was attributed to the teachers and school administrators whose preparations were affected by the K-12 transition program.
The Department of Education (DepEd), therefore needs to closely monitor the SHS students performance as well as the basic education curriculum.
