Student factor may be the reason why the Leyte Normal University has turned a low passing percentage in the yearly Licensure Examination for Teachers or LET in recent years.

This was bared by Dr. Corazon L. Yago, Vice-President for Research, Planning, and Development of this university, pointing to the downward trend gleaned from studies conducted by her office.

“The reason for this decline could not be the teacher factor, course content, or item of the exam itself because all these remain the same. The reason, therefore, I student factor,” Dr. Yago explained.

In a study done by the LNU Research Office under the direction of Prof. Alicia Balagapo, Director for Research and Planning, a decreasing number of passers should be noted from an 80.84 passing percentage in 2002 to a 47.23-passing rate in 2004 when BSED and BEED are combined.

“It is the BSED that pulls the ratings down because their examination is harder than the BEE. This is because aside from taking the General Education Test, they also take the test of their respective majors like Mathematics, Social Sciences, English, to name a few,” the Vice-President disclosed.

This is shown in some comparisons made between the BEED and BSED where the BEED had a passing percentage of 65.07 percent while the BSED had 53.92 percent.

However, the trend remains that since 2002, the BEED’s rating has been at 50.50 percent and the BSED’s at 39 percent both being the lowest in 2004.

Vice-President Yago also stressed that aside from reviewing course contents, teachers are also responsible to expose their students to testing conditions similar to the LET.

“Teachers should not only focus on knowledge but also on comprehension, analysis, synthesis, and application because these comprise the testing conditions of the LET,” Dr. Yago said.