EDITORIAL
The Year of the Wood Dragon: Its tailwinds and headwinds
The year 2023 was a year of robust expansion for the Philippines. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) experienced a growth of 5.9% year-over-year in the penultimate quarter of the year.The Philippine economy has fast recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The debt-to-GDP ratio, which ballooned during the last year of the Duterte administration as a result of the pandemic, shows signs of remarkable improvement as of the end of the third quarter of 2023, with the ratio computed at 60.2 percent, the lowest in about two years from 63.7 percent a year before.
Despite the foregoing economic tailwinds, the performance of Filipino learners in international large-scale assessments in science, math, and reading has been the country’s headwinds. The 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ranked the Philippines third from the bottom in science and sixth in mathematics and reading.
The 2023 PISA results were even more dismal compared to the previous year. The Philippines scored about 120 points less than the average scores in its 2022 assessment.
The Department of Education admitted that students in the country are five to six years behind in learning competencies.
As 2023 ends, we should embrace the new year with optimism amidst global challenges.
Even with a lowered growth target of 6.5% to 7.5% from the 6.5-8.0% range, the Philippines remains to have a high growth forecast. A nearly 6 trillion pesos budget for 2024 will support this growth forecast.
As to the state of Philippine education, we can only hope that the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Education (DepED) will be able to find ways to improve the performance of our learners in international assessments.
The Year of the Wood Dragon combines the dragon’s characteristics with the nurturing wood element as they say. With careful planning and meticulous implementation, we hope for all the best in 2024: Growth, Progress and Abundance.
Happy New Year!