WB takes down unflattering PH education report from website

By Ben O. de Vera, 9 Jul 2021

The World Bank (WB) has taken down from its website a synthesis report on its three latest global assessments showing the poor state of the Philippine education system following mounting pressure from the government for the multilateral lender to issue a public apology.

No less than Malacañang and President Duterte’s chief economic manager backed Education Secretary Leonor Briones’ call for an apology.

The Department of Finance (DOF) on Thursday said Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III had written World Bank Group president David Malpass, wherein he lamented the Washington-based multilateral lender’s alleged “lack of professionalism when it failed to follow the standard procedure of consulting DepEd [Department of Education] officials about its findings before the publication of its report.”

By Thursday afternoon, the World Bank report titled “Improving student learning outcomes and well-being in the Philippines: What are international assessments telling us?” which the Washington-based agency published on June 21, was already removed from its website. The accompanying presentation on the report was also gone, after the DOF on Thursday morning issued a statement seeking their removal from the World Bank’s website.

The DOF said that Dominguez also told Malpass that the report published last month did not reflect current realities and had the effect of misleading the public and causing undue reputational risk to the Philippine education sector.

Misleading

“Such a report should be taken out from the [World] Bank’s website as not to further mislead the public. We also believe that a public apology to the DepEd and the national government is in order,” Dominguez told Malpass.

The World Bank report noted that Filipino students’ low scores in recent global mathematics and science assessment examinations reflected a poor school climate in the Philippines wherein students had difficulty understanding lessons taught in English, which was further aggravated by hunger caused by poverty and campus violence, such as bullying.

Adverse findings

“There is a crisis in education—which started pre-COVID-19, but will have been made worse by COVID-19,” the World Bank said in the report.

Among the World Bank’s key findings was that “more than 80 percent of children do not know what they should know” in school. This meant that the majority of Filipino students were unable to meet the minimum proficiency or learning standard expected from their grade level.

The report stayed on the World Bank website up to Thursday morning even as Briones had complained as early as last Monday that it “insulted and shamed” the Philippines.

Echoing Briones’ earlier statements, Dominguez claimed the report was “outdated” and “erroneous” even if these were based on the three latest global assessments where the Philippines participated: 2018 Program for International Student Assessment, 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and 2019 Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics. No new assessments were conducted since the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc last year.

Dominguez said the report “may be wrongfully used to tarnish the image of the DepEd and the entire national government.”

Responsible reporting

The finance chief also said that “the report’s outdated findings have already been addressed by the DepEd and the Philippines’ development partners, the World Bank included, through various amelioration programs since 2019.”

Moving forward, Dominguez said the World Bank was expected “to observe responsible reporting and adhere to the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct.” He added that “as a valued partner, the bank should serve and protect the development interests of the Philippines and other World Bank members.”

In Malacañang, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said at a press briefing that the Palace agreed with Briones that the World Bank owed the country an apology.

Very disturbing

Roque earlier said they found the World Bank report “very disturbing and very alarming.”

Before the now controversial World Bank report was made public, the lender early this year added two loans for the DepEd in its Philippine pipeline.

The DOF negotiates with lenders, such as the World Bank, on behalf of government agencies that would implement foreign-funded programs and projects. In the World Bank’s near-term lending pipeline for the Philippines are 13 upcoming loans worth a total of $2.98 billion, including two forthcoming loans to be implemented by the DepEd.

As of end-February 2021, the bank’s active portfolio in the Philippines consisted of 16 programs and projects with net commitments of $5.62 billion. —With a report from Leila B. Salaverria INQ