By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
As it turns out, the country was hit by a double whammy last week.
First, a World Bank (WB) study claims more than 80 percent of Filipino students in elementary and high school are below the minimum proficiency in learning for their grade levels. Second, Global Finance magazine ranks the Philippines last on its list of 134 safest countries globally.
In more straightforward layman’s terms, the Washington-based multilateral financial institution has tagged eight out of 10 Filipino school kids stupid for their age, while the New York-based publishing outfit branded the Philippines the most dangerous place in the world.
Days after the education sector report hit the fan and drew condemnation from the Departments of Education (DepEd) and of Finance (DOF), the WB conveyed its apologies to the government and took down the report from its website.
Authoritative and backed by statistical findings from the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) conducted in the country for Grades 4 and 5 and 15-year-olds, respectively, the WB should have stood by its report if it were pristinely accurate and conclusive.
But three giant points were made clear by DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones. First, the data on which the study was premised is outdated. Second, the findings were not shared with the DepEd for a rejoinder. Third, as a financier of educational programs in the Philippines since 1981, the WB is shooting itself in the foot by exposing the country’s supposed poor state of education while being an active party to it and even negotiating a new $210-million loan for DepEd. And for what? To continue financing a dysfunctionally-structured education program?
As for Global Finance magazine’s Marc Getzoff, who authored the report painting the Philippines as the most dangerous place in the world, I question his core integrity as a journalist.
Getzoff claims he based his ranking of the Philippines on three factors – war and peace, personal security, and natural disaster risk.
Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, PNP Chief, already disputed Getzoff’s flimsy claims on personal security and peace and order in the country with hard data. I can guarantee you no cop in the Philippines will pull down a citizen on the road based on skin color and no one gets mugged over the shape of one’s eyes.
I don’t know what news packets from the Philippines these New York journos stuff themselves with, but there is a basic way of vetting information that might be tampered with or coming from a polluted source. Every Journalism professor usually teaches this trick, and Mr. Getzoff better learn it quick: “If you want to report if it’s raining outside, don’t call the weatherman… get the f*#% out the door and see if it’s raining!”
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