A professor at the University of the Philippines - Los Baños acknowledged that today's learners are significantly different from students in the 80s and 90s. Many students nowadays seem to lack the perseverance and determination to succeed in their studies due to the easily accessible resources provided by the Internet.

In an interview at the sidelines of the 1^st International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Philippines Congress during the 2024 Manila International Book Fair at the SMX Convention Center on Wednesday, Prof. Greg Tabios Pawilen, PhD, sees today’s learners already lost the willpower and the passion to finish their studies.

“Although, there should be no point of comparison as students of the past and today have different contexts, I think learners now lost grit and passion. During our time, we are so less privileged and we have to study harder to finish our education because we have a dream. Our parents always inculcated us to study hard,” he told DAILY TRIBUNE.

“For now, teachers should bring back that passion for students. Sometimes, the reason parents put their children in school is because no one will look after their kids. Indeed, the culture of society is ever-changing, which is the only constant in life,” he added.

Furthermore, he said parents and students, who are members of society, became materialistic and wanted easy solutions, however, they “forget the values and the meaning of things that they are doing.”

Matatag Curriculum ‘constructivist’

Meanwhile, Dr. Pawilen emphasized that the Matatag Curriculum, introduced during the tenure of former Education Secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte, is a significant improvement for the K to 12 Basic Education Program in the country. It follows a constructivist approach, which means that learners actively construct knowledge instead of passively receiving information from the teacher.

“Students sometimes cannot read but can comprehend, that’s a different skill. The DepEd has programs to localize, indigenize, and at the same time, contextualize, which helps students, also through the help of teachers. There is a special reading program, in fairness to the DepEd,” he said.

Released in December 2023, the Philippines, for the second straight assessment, landed in the bottom 10 out of 81 countries in reading comprehension, mathematics, and science and showed minimal improvement, results of the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test.

The assessment said after being ranked the lowest out of 79 participating countries in 2018 in reading comprehension, the country ranked 76th out of 81 countries for 2022.

Case-to-case basis

Dr. Pawilen maintained teachers should also understand where students, who are poor in reading, are coming from.

“The passion should always come from parents, as well as the teachers, to initiate the reading skills for students. The reading aspects are included in all subjects, namely Science, and Mathematics, among others. Students sometimes have poor eyesight, dyslexic, and have low cognitive states, which teachers do not know because they are not SPED (special education) teachers. Proper implementation is key,” he explained.

The culture of reading should start at home, and be honed in schools, he said.

“Teachers or students should not be blamed. A teaching system from parents and teachers should always be effective,” according to the UPLB professor.

The 1st IBBY-PH Congress gathered some 200 delegates composed of teachers, content creators, readers, and reading advocates, in their shared goal of connecting books with children.

"This is the first time the Philippines is hosting an IBBY Congress so we are of course very proud to organize this event," said Kristine Mandigma, IBBY Philippines president. "As the national section, we are tasked to lead initiatives that support the development of Philippine children's literature and literacy in general. We are pleased to have a substantial turnout of participants who share the same noble goals."

This year's theme is "Batang Malaya: Freeing the Filipino Child Through a Community of Reading Champions", which encapsulates the essence of empowering Filipino children through literacy and community support.