Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas wants Filipino students to eventually match the English proficiency of their peers in Singapore, who have been excelling consistently in global reading, mathematical and scientific literacy assessments.
“This should be our long-term goal – for our elementary and high school students to at least equal the English reading and comprehension skills of their counterparts in Singapore,” he said in a statement.
Gullas is an educator, being the president of the University of the Visayas.
“Our children deserve every opportunity to learn and grow so they can achieve the highest standard of living for themselves,” he said.
“We have to align their schooling with the demands of the global reality where English is not only the common language, but also the language of business and technology,” the solon added.
As soon as the COVID-19 pandemic is over, Gullas urged the Department of Education to send a small group of Filipino teachers to Singapore for a three-month immersion in the former British colony’s school system.
“In fact, millions of middle-class families in China, South Korea and other countries have been investing a lot of money to prepare their children in English as a second language – even hiring them English-speaking nannies and online tutors – to assure them a superior quality of life,” he said.
“DepEd has to find out for itself exactly what Singapore is doing – that we are not doing here in our public school system,” Gullas noted.
He called on DepEd to send to Singapore at least 17 young Filipino teachers – one from each administrative region.
“Upon their return, we expect them to help DepEd find ways to improve both our teaching of English as a subject matter, and our use of English as a medium of instruction in other curriculum content,” he said.