By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
In a post in its Facebook page on September 16, 2025, the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) reiterated that the amount of cumulative expenditure per student correlates with scores in international assessments. For proof, EDCOM II cited that in the 2018 and 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the Philippines had the second lowest cumulative spending per student and as a result it ended in the bottom in both rounds. It implied that more funds would guarantee better scores in the PISA.
The 2022 PISA data destroys this EDCOM II fantasy.
The Philippines outdid the Dominican Republic (DR) by one rank in 2018 and by three ranks in 2022. That’s despite the fact that the DR spends four times more than the Philippines – USD 46,500.00 to the Philippines’ USD 11,000.00 in 2022. The DR outspent 22 countries in all in the 2022 PISA but ended up second to the last.
It is also noteworthy that with its spending of just USD 700.00 which is 1/66th of the funding of the DR, Cambodia, the lowest spender and last finisher, trailed the former by a mere 13 points and one rank.
Vietnam, the fourth lowest spender with USD 13,800.00, ranked 34th of 81 countries. On the other hand, although its spending is just lesser by USD 2,800.00 or 20.25 percent than that of Vietnam, the Philippines was 77th. Moreover, the 10 countries which immediately following Vietnam in the rankings namely Israel, Turkey, Malta, Slovakia, Iceland, Serbia, Ukraine, Brunei, Greece and Chile had an average USD 93,770.00 spending which is 6.8 times more than Vietnam’s.
Considering the lopsided results of the Philippines and Vietnam in the PISA despite their nearly similar spending, it is clear that inadequacy of funding is not the main culprit in the former’s debacles in international student assessments. It is obvious from their percentages of students who made Level 2 proficiency which was 21 percent for the Philippines and 76 percent for Vietnam that the disparity in their standings in international student assessments boils down to the issue of adherence to learning standards.
It is well known that for years now the DepEd has been practicing mass promotion or the passing of learners regardless of academic performance. The fact that 76 percent of Filipino takers were exposed by the 2022 PISA as functionally illiterate confirmed the pervasiveness of the practice because the K to 12 Curriculum provides that functional literacy be attained by Grade 6.
On the other hand, based on the fact that 76 percent of Vietnamese students hurdled Level 2 in the 2022 PISA – the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average was 73 percent – means the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) ensures learners are ready before promoting them. According to these articles, the MoET strictly prohibits mass promotion: “MOET vows to prevent students from ‘sitting in the wrong class’”, VietNamNet Global, 4/20/15; and “More than 105,000 primary school students at risk of ‘retention’?”, Thanh Nien Newspaper, 7/25/23.
The performance of private schools in the 2022 PISA blows to smithereens the claim of the EDCOM II that the country cannot budge from the bottom of the rankings in international student assessments unless it pours in more money to education. Per PISA 2022 National Report of the Philippines, the DepEd’s report on the 2022 PISA, private schools scored 412.33 points while public schools garnered 340.66 points placing the former in the level of the 51st ranked country and the latter in the level of the 80th ranked country in the rankings.
Per finding of former Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus, “except in the National Capital Region and Region IV-A, the government, on the average, spends more per DepEd student (P18,000) than parents pay for private school tuition (P8,000)” (“Basic education costs higher in public schools,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, November 3, 2022).
Based on the foregoing facts, private schools can produce students who can perform respectably in international students assessments with less than half the Philippines’ current cumulative spending per student. **
