We express our disappointment not only on the results of the recent National Career Assessment Exam (NCAE), but also on the attitude the Department of Education towards the result.

It is an irony for us that the Department of Education seems happy and satisfied of the results, instead of showing dismay and regret in its recent statements. It even applauds the results and pats its shoulder for doing a job well done in creating voc-tech skilled students with low scholastic capability.

We find the Department of Education’s effort to discourage students to go to teriary education odd if not deplorable. Instead of vowing to improve the quality of basic and secondary education to make sure that the students become prepared for whatever path they would want to take in life, the DepEd imposes upon the students to ‘appreciate alternatives to the college diploma’ and take the voc-tech path.

It is not the government and the DepEd’s job to dictate to us what jobs or career paths to take based on a simple exam result. Rather, the DepEd should provide our students, through basic and secondary education, the basic knowledge and skills to prepare them for whatever life choices they would like to take.

The Department may even be considered violating important provisions of Batas Pambansa 232, stating that no one should dare mess with students’ rights to choose their college specification preferences.

It is clear that this step is in blind adherence to recommendations of IMF-WB and ADB, that our role in the global market is to provide “cheap semi-skilled laborers.” Given the record of this government in its puppetry and blind worship of foreign, pro-globalization dictates, we will not be surprised if the exam results were twisted and/or tampered to support these recommendations.

The students, with the support of our teachers, school administration, and parents, will strongly oppose the proposal to make the NCAE mandatory. We are confident that the sentiments of most parents, teachers and high school students nationwide are with us.

There is indeed a “job mismatch,” when a government department which is supposed to provide us with quality education, chooses to play the role of Madam Auring and predicts for us that it is for us to quit college studies for we might miserably fail.

We ask the DepEd, when we allot very little budget for education, when we allow textbooks to be riddled with errors, when we allow oversized classrooms and underpaid teachers to be a norm in our education system, whose fault is it in the first place?