DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 January) – Four Mindanao schools among 24 nationwide have been cited by the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education for the “exceptional performance of their graduates in the last two licensure examinations for elementary and high school instructors given in March and September 2013.”
In a press statement Sunday, Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo, committee chair, identified the 24 outstanding teaching schools – 13 for high school and 11 for elementary – out of a total of 1,663 schools accredited for teaching high school teachers and 1280 accredited for teaching elementary school teachers.
Five schools nationwide were cited for both high school and elementary, among them the Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, the lone Mindanao private institution and the lone Mindanao school cited for “exceptional performance” of their graduates in the licensure exam for elementary and high school.
The three other Mindanao schools cited are all state-owned: the Philippine Normal University-Agusan, the University of Southeastern Philippines-Tagum, and the Davao Oriental State College in Mati City, Davao Oriental.
Citing statistics from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) statistics, Romulo said the 24 schools – five of them, including Xavier University cited for both elementary and high school teaching — were the only ones “with 50 or more examinees and with at least 80 percent of their examinees passing” the last two licensure tests for elementary and high school teachers.
“Again, we are making this list public to enable consumers of teaching education –- prospective teachers and their parents –- to make a sound choice as to where they will most likely get the best value for their hard earned tuition money,” he said.
He said there may be other smaller schools with at least 80 percent of their examinees passing the last two eligibility tests for teachers, but these institutions were excluded because they had fewer than 50 examinees, Romulo’s press statement added.
The Committee’s list and the corresponding percentage of their examinees passing the licensure tests (in bold, italics, are the Mindanao schools):
For high school teachers:
1. University of the Philippines–Diliman (91.66%);
2. Saint Louis University-Baguio (90.88%);
3. University of San Carlos–Cebu (90.16%);
4. University of Santo Tomas (89.59%);
5. Philippine Normal University–Manila (89.43%);
6. Philippine Normal University–Agusan (88.83%);
7. University of Southeastern Philippines-Tagum (88.00%);
8. Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (84.06%)
9. Bohol Island State University–Tagbilaran (82.89%)
10. Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Taguig (82.26%);
11. Davao Oriental State College of Science & Technology (82.18%);
12. Xavier University-Cagayan de Oro (81.71%); and
13. Technological University of the Philippines–Cavite (80.65%).
For elementary school teachers:
- University of Santo Tomas (100.00%);
- Bohol Island State University–Tagbilaran (95.95%)
- West Visayas State University–La Paz (94.76%)
- 2. Xavier University-Cagayan de Oro (93.16%);
- Philippine Normal University–Manila (91.34%);
- Talisay City College-Cebu (90.24%);
- Southern Iloilo Polytechnic College (86.27%);
- Saint Louis University-Baguio (84.91%);
- Western Visayas College of Science & Technology-La Paz (82.31%);
- Bohol Island State University–Bilar (81.13%);
- Cebu Technological University–Argao (80.72%).
The press statement noted that teaching is “among the top five most heavily subscribed programs in college,” along with nursing, criminology, accounting and civil engineering, and graduates must first pass a national licensure examination before they can validly practice their profession.
It also cited statistics from the PRC that some 29.91 percent, or 29,694 out of 99,277 examinees, passed the last two licensure tests for elementary teachers in 2013 while some 39.69 percent, or 40,978 out of 103,225 examinees, passed the last two eligibility tests for high school teachers.
The press statement also included other significant information:
- the national government, through the Department of Education (DepEd), is the largest recruiter of teachers for public elementary and high schools;
- based on the national government’s staffing summary, DepEd is now the country’s single largest employer of teachers, with a total of 669,997 permanent positions, of which 591,163 have been filled;
- DepEd spent a total of P148.37 billion to pay for the permanent filled teaching positions in 2013.
Aside from the 61,510 teachers hired in 2013, DepEd is hiring, at a cost of P9.5 billion, another 33,194 teachers and 1,500 school principals this year, to address the shortage of educators, the press statement said. (MindaNews)