Our Broken Promise to Education

The state of a nation’s future can be measured in its classrooms. If so, the latest findings from the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) serve as a deafening alarm.

The long-standing crisis in Philippine education, it appears, is not merely about curriculum or materials; it is a systemic rot that begins long before a teacher first stands before a class. The PIDS report confirms a difficult truth: we are failing our teachers, and in doing so, we are failing our children.

The problem starts at the very source. According to the PIDS study, for too many, a degree in education is not a calling but a fallback, a “last resort” for those with limited options. As PIDS Senior Research Fellow Dr. John Paolo Rivera noted, this lack of intrinsic motivation fundamentally affects quality. This foundational weakness leads to an even more alarming failure of regulation: the existence of ghost schools of teacher education.

Between 2012 and 2022, an astonishing 77 institutions offering Bachelor of Elementary Education and 105 offering Bachelor of Secondary Education posted zero percent passing rates in the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET). Let that sink in. For a decade, these 182 schools produced graduates with no measurable success in their chosen field, yet they were allowed to operate. This is not a crack in the system; it is a gaping crater of negligence. We must ask the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) a direct question: Who is minding the store? Allowing these institutions to continue is a betrayal of student aspirations and public trust.

For those who navigate this broken pipeline and enter the profession, the challenges only intensify. The PIDS research reveals a staggering disconnect between the professional development offered and the support teachers desperately need. While educators grapple with unruly students, the complexities of digital integration, and the rising tide of mental health issues, they are fed a diet of generic, compliance-driven seminars on curriculum rollouts.

The numbers are damning. During the last school year, only 17.6% of public school teachers participated in relevant training. In Metro Manila, the non-participation rate was a shocking 88%. Teachers are not lazy; they are pragmatic. They are bypassing training that does not equip them for the realities of their work. They are asking for practical skills, yet the system buries them in bureaucracy, such as the overwhelming documentation required for Quality Assurance (QA) that faculty say distracts from their core duties of teaching and research.

This disconnect means we are preparing teachers for yesterday’s classroom. The world has moved on, but our training has not. An estimated 15 to 20% of the global population is neurodivergent, yet specialized training to support these learners is scarce. Artificial intelligence is reshaping information, yet guidance on its responsible use in education is lagging, with Dr. Michael Ralph Abrigo warning of AI “hallucinations” and the need to teach critical digital literacy. We cannot expect our teachers to prepare students for the 21st century if their own development is stuck in the past.

Ultimately, these interconnected failures – a flawed recruitment and licensing system, non-existent oversight, and irrelevant training – amount to a profound disrespect for the teaching profession. We have burdened our educators with impossible expectations while denying them the tools, support, and autonomy they need to succeed.

Fixing this requires more than another series of workshops. It demands a whole-of-society commitment to restoring the dignity of teaching. First, CHED must be held accountable and immediately audit and act on the zero-performing TEIs. Second, DepEd must dismantle the one-size-fits-all training model and empower schools to pursue localized, teacher-driven professional development. Finally, as a society, we must heed Dr. Rivera’s call to once again place a greater value on our teachers, recognizing them not as civil servants to be managed, but as the essential professionals who build our nation’s future.

Our promise to provide quality education is only as strong as our commitment to those who deliver it. Right now, that promise is broken.