AT last, the apology has come! The mighty World Bank was made to say sorry to the Department of Education and the Philippine government for its huge boo-boo. The lender prematurely released an insulting report on the state of Philippine education without following protocols. That’s why Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones demanded an apology.
The World Bank’s inadvertence caused undue reputational risk to the Philippine education sector. It used a three-year-old data without giving the DepEd a chance to give an update on what has since been done to correct the ills of the Philippine educational system. As a result, the DepEd and the government were subjected to public censure and criticism because of the stupid mistake.
“Even if done inadvertently, the World Bank has inflicted harm on DepEd and the government,” said Briones. “If you release a report on a country, the country should know first about what you’re reporting on. There was no heads up; they released it to the media right away.”
Malacañang and the Department of Finance supported her call for an apology. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III asked the World Bank to remove the report from its web site because it “does not reflect current realities” and “has the effect of misleading the public and causing undue reputational risk to the Philippine education sector.”
“The failure of Bank officials to follow the protocol of consulting with the DepEd prior to publication illustrates the lack of professionalism, which we come to expect from the World Bank and its staff,” Dominguez said, adding that the report failed to recognize the historical context of the Philippine education sector and how it has evolved, which the lender should have taken into account as it has been a “valuable partner of the national government for almost 75 years.”
In its apology, the World Bank said it deeply regrets the early publication of its controversial report without giving the Department of Education a chance to provide its inputs. “This was an oversight on our part,” the World Bank admitted.
The Department of Education accepted the World Bank apology concerning the premature release of a synthesis report. “More than admitting to their oversight, we hope the World Bank statement has clearly reiterated the commitment and concrete steps being taken by the Department, together with our partners, to resolve century-old issues plaguing the Philippine education system,” the DepEd said.
President Duterte on Monday accepted the World Bank’s apology. “I accept the apology. It’s a very good one. I said it’s a poignant one, direct to the point,” the President said. He also applauded the DepEd secretary for calling out the World Bank over the mindless report.
The controversy started in 2018 when Briones made a brave decision. To determine the true state of the Philippine education system, she did what no other Secretary of Education before her dared to do: Allow young learners to participate in international educational assessments.
Under her direction, the Philippines joined the Program for International Student Assessment (Pisa) in 2018, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2019, and the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) in 2019.
Briones made this unprecedented move saying she wanted to show the DepEd’s commitment and seriousness to monitor the performance of the country’s learners compared with students in other countries. Unfortunately, the findings showed “poor performance” of Filipino students in some key learning areas. The DepEd welcomed the disheartening results, saying that it values the immense data they can offer. It also said that Philippine participation in international assessments is a “step forward towards addressing curriculum and learning gaps in the country’s basic education.”
Two years after the Pisa debacle, in November 2020, DepEd announced that the Philippines will join the 2022 Pisa. Briones believes the DepEd has done a good job implementing actions that have a direct impact on our learners. She hopes that the country will improve its performance in the 2022 Pisa, the second time that the Philippines will join the international student assessment.
We can only guess how our learners would be performing today if her predecessors at the Department of Education have done half of what Briones is currently doing. They could have tried to address learning gaps in the country’s basic education to prevent these gaps from becoming giant crevices.
Better late than never.
1 comment
Liling Briones is a patriot. She has done nothing but advance the Filipino people all her life. Kudos Mam Liling!