Arnold Clavio shared his thoughts on the situation of education in the Philippines
Kapuso news anchor Arnold Clavio was accused of smart shaming a student contestant in the Kapamilya noontime show It’s Showtime for not being able to identify the DPWH acronym.
Clavio actively shares his thoughts and opinions about social and political issues in the Philippines. He uses his social media platforms not just for his thoughts and opinions but also for calling out individuals and groups involved in certain issues or controversies. In one of his recent social media posts, the veteran journalist talked about a viral instance in It’s Showtime.
During a game, members of the studio audience, who were students, were asked the identify the acronyms of the government agencies. A male student was asked about DPWH, but he was not able to answer Department of Public Works and Highways. The said department has been a viral topic since the latter part of 2025 because of the issue of the anomalous flood control projects which dragged prominent names in the political arena.
As the student was not able to give correct answer, which many people expected him to do so, since he is a student, negative comments were aired online. For many netizens, this simply showed the decline in the status of education quality in the country.
Arnold Clavio echoed many people’s thoughts. For the vetertan journalist, the government should intervene in regulating the Generation Z in using social media. This factor has been pointed out as one of the supposed reasons why youth’s effort to learn and acquire knowledged declined as a big portion opted to seek entertainment.
He also stressed that the question was about current events and he wondered if the male student is not watching news, and that the question was not a difficult math or science topic. Then, he cited that a study stated that a big portion of the younger generation are spending more time online, for gaming, gambling, and browsng social media platforms such as TikTok.
“Ang mga tanong ay tungkol sa current events . Hindi pa nga science o math . Hindi ba sila nanonood ng balita ? Batay sa isang pag-aaral , mas maraming kabataan ngayon ang abala sa social media . Naglalaro ng on line sugal , nagsasayaw sa tiktok o just browsing para matawa sa ilang content creator,” Clavio stated.
The news anchor said that with the unregutalated use of social media, Gen Z are more distracted and their focus for their studies are now directed to social media. With this, Arnold Clavio urged the government to address this issue.
This was shared on a popular showbiz site, and some netizens accused the veteran journalist of smart shaming, but many netizens rallied behind him as they pointed out that it was indeed alarming that the younger generation does not know general knowlege questions. Here are some comments.
