MANILA- President Rodrigo Duterte has approved a review mechanism for the K to 12 program, Malacañang said Wednesday, after Filipino students performed poorly in a global reading comprehension assessment.

The President backed the Department of Education's "Sulong EduKALIDAD" program during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, his spokesman Salvador Panelo said.

The program aims to review and update the K to 12 curriculum, improve the learning environment in schools, upskill and retool teachers, and engage stakeholders for support and collaboration.

The measure comes after Filipino students ranked last among 79 countries in a global survey of reading comprehension.

Over 600,000 students around the age of 15 from 79 different countries joined the reading assessment of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018. Filipino students got a rating of 340 points in the survey, which is lower than the average 487 points. Majority of Filipinos aged 15 are in Grade 9.’

Panelo said Education Secretary Leonor Briones explained on Tuesday that her department was already expecting an “unfavorable” result of the survey as she emphasized that Manila’s participation was geared towards the establishment of a baseline to measure the development of education in the Philippines.

“In this way, per Secretary Briones, they would be able to evaluate the results and implement corrective measures to address the deficiency of our education system,” Panelo said.

• Palace: Poor reading comprehension of Pinoy students a 'reality'
• Why Pinoy students ranked last in reading comprehension survey