The Department of Education will look into a World Bank report that states that around 80 percent of Filipino students fall below the minimum level of proficiency for their grade levels, Malacañang said on Thursday.

Among 79 countries, the Philippines was rated last in reading, and second to last in science and mathematics, among 79 countries that participated in the Program for International Student Assessment, according to a report that quotes the World Bank.

"That is very disturbing po and very alarming," said Malacañang spokesman Harry Roque.

He said the DepEd would study "ways forward upon receiving this World Bank Report."

"Huwag po kayong mag-alala, pag-aaralan po mabuti natin kung anong sinasabi ng report at titingnan po natin kung paano natin mababago ang ating curriculum, lalong-lalo na sa panahon ng pandemya," he said in a press briefing.

(Do not worry, we will carefully study what that report says and we will see how we can change the curriculum, especially in the time of a pandemic.)

The Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia that has yet to hold in-person classes, even on a limited scale to supplement distance-learning modalities, she added.

President Rodrigo Duterte has twice rejected a pilot test for face-to-face classes, the latest in February, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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