With contribution from Georgette May Virgo
Quezon City, Feb 4, 2017 – Acting on the need of people with disabilities to meet eligibility criteria in the government, LCDPFI continues to provide free civil service review sessions for free. The program which started in 2014 is conducted in partnership with Accenture Philippines whose employees serves as volunteer facilitators and review masters. This year, the review sessions are being held every Saturdays, from January 21 to March 4, 2017.
Last year, there were 3 participants from LCDPFI’s review, who passed the civil service examination from among the 34 reviewees. According to Hazel Joy Borja, LCDPFI’s Program Manager, the passing rate of 9% is quite satisfactory as compared with the general average passing rate of 11% considering that LCDPFI has only started with the reviews in 2014.
However, Borja acknowledges the fact that there are still a number of considerations with regards people with disabilities taking the test such as accessibility of testing centers and the comprehension of the test items particularly of deaf persons.
Borja reported that deaf persons have a limited vocabulary and are mostly familiar with English than Filipino since the sign language is based in English, these aside from the fact that technical jargons and highfalutin words have no equivalent signs, therefore unknown or unfamiliar to the deaf.
LCDPFI Program Manager Hazel Joy Borja during one of the review sessions
Earlier in November 2016, LCDPFI organized a focus group discussion among PWD candidates who underwent review sessions aimed at gathering candidates’ insights and solicit their experiences during the recently held examination. The proceedings in the said meeting were consolidated and shared with the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) and Civil Service Commission (CSC) as recommendations in pushing for a more inclusive and PWD accessible civil service testing.
With the help of NCDA, a series of meetings and consultation with the Civil Service Commission ensued paving the way for a number of reasonable accommodation granted to PWD examinees including an additional hour for deaf examinees only, on top of a previously granted additional 30 minutes provided to blind examinees. Sign Language Interpreters were also provided to assist deaf takers during test instructions and directions.
CSC also agreed to provide a tailored examination for the deaf employing the use of simple words or terminologies in the questions and eliminate questions in Filipino. PWDs were also assigned in accessible testing centers. DCT