DAVAO CITY, 31 July — Education Secretary Raul Roco has said he also wants the National Standard Aptitude Test (NSAT) and the National Elementary Achievement Test (NEAT) abolished.
Roco, who was in this southern city this week, told reporters that the NSAT does not really measure the aptitude of each high school students who plan to enter college or university.
It does not inform either how much a student has learned during his four years of secondary education, the education chief said. “They only give distorted results because students will only review for one month and they give you all the questions and answers,” Roco justified.
The NEAT is intended to test the aptitude of elementary pupils in the Grade 6 or 7 level who are set to go to high school the following year.
Roco said he can abolish the NSAT and NEAT if schools submit a resolution to such effect. “I can even abolish it right away,” he said.
He said schools have to formulate their own aptitude tests and entrance examinations to assess the quality and capability of students they want to admit.
Although some schools may adopt much harder tests compared to other schools, Roco said the tests will eventually level off.
He said the 132 million pesos government spends for conducting the NSAT and NEAT every year should be better spent on the salaries of or credit assistance to teachers.
The NSAT was adopted in 1995 after repeated demands by some parents and students to replace the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) — launched in 1973 by the Marcos administration — with a less discriminatory aptitude test.
Roco said the NCEE was abolished because it disqualified those who failed to pass it from taking four-year college courses.
Various groups have said such restriction was unfair because there were many students who were actually consistently doing good in high school but who were disqualified from taking higher courses just because they failed the NCEE for reasons beyond their control.
Officials have noted that some bright students who were either psychologically unprepared or sick at the time of NCEE examinations have failed the test.
Roco also noted that NCEE exam questions and answers and even the grades were being bought, and that some schools were suspected of cheating for their students.
