Ms. CARMEN REYES-ZUBIAGA
Officer-in-Charge
National Council on Disability Affairs
NCDA Building, Isidora St
Brgy. Holy Spirit Quezon City

Dear Ms. Zubiaga:

We refer to your letter (undated), which the Commission received on February 14, 2017, requesting a copy of the policy guidelines relating to examinees with disabilities.

Please be advised that, under existing practice in administration of examination:

  1. The visually impaired (totally and partially blind) are given the option to take the examination either through Braille system or the Dictation system.
  2. The visually impaired have long been accorded additional one hour in taking the examination.
  3. The deaf or hard of hearing have similarly been given an extension of one hour since the examination conducted in October 2016.
  4. PWDs have customarily been assigned at the ground floor of a building. In the case of the visually impaired, each examinee is assigned a separate room.

Rest assured that the above accommodations, which have customarily been practiced, remain for the scheduled examinations in 2017 and for other examinations to be scheduled in the future.

As requested, we are providing you a copy of ERPO Memo No. 972, s. 2016 (Extension of Time Limit and Provision of Separate Room for Deaf/Hard of Hearing Examinees of the October 23, 2016 CSE-PPT)

Thank you.
FERNANDO M. PORIO
Director IV
Examination, Recruitment and Placement Office

EXAMINATION, RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT OFFICE

ERPO Memo No. 972, s. 2016

MEMORANDUM

FOR: HEADS OF CSC REGIONAL OFFICES

SUBJECT: Extension of Time Limit and Provision of Separate Room for Deaf/Hard Hearing Examinees of October 23, 2016 CSE-PPT

In our recent meeting with the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA),and interest of the
deaf/hard of hearing during the conduct of examination were tackled. We were able to gather
some observations as follows:

  1. The common notion that the reading and comprehension capability of the deaf/hard of hearing is intact and unaffected by the disability is inaccurate. Truth is, they have limited vocabulary in comparison with their hearing counterparts which affects their comprehensions and literacy skills. Such limited vocabulary renders them to having difficulty in reading and understanding passages;
  2. The same goes for technical /difficult/peculiar words; and
  3. The deaf do not understand questions in Filipino, and do not have an equivalent sign language for numerical formula/equations.

Thus, as an immediate recourse to address the cited predicament, we shall extend for one hour the examination time limit for the deaf/hard of hearing examinees during the October 23, 2016 Career Service Examinations. Anchored on the existing extended time limit for the blind/visually impaired, duration of examination for the deaf/hard of hearing shall be, as follows;

Professional – 4 hours, 10 minutes
Sub-Professional – 3 hours, 40 minutes

Consequently, the following related guidelines/procedures shall be observed:

a. Account the number of deaf/hard of hearing examinees.

b. To facilitate preparation (printing) and packing of test materials, submit to ERPO, not later than                 October 06, 2016, the statistics for:
-Deaf/hard of hearing examinees
-Blind/Visually Impaired Persons (VIP); and
-Rest of PWD examinees

c. Do randomization procedures separately for the deaf/hard of hearing examinees, for the blind/VIP,          and for the rest of PWD examinees.

d. Generate and print separate Examinee Attendance Sheets for the deaf/hard of hearing examinees,          for the blind/VIP, and the rest of PWD Examinees.

e. As far as practicable, provide a room for the deaf/hard of hearing separate from the rest of PWD            Examinees.

f. As far as practicable, tap sign language interpreter to be utilized only for the general                                instructions / information (portions of the Manual on administering the examination that are read out    loud by the Room Examiner) during preliminary activities. (NOTE: The sign language interpreter shall    leave the room immediately before the test proper starts)

g. Instruct Room Examiner and the Room Proctor assigned in the room for the deaf/hard of hearing to         prohibit examinees from doing sign language to other examinees during the test proper.

For the blind/VIP, directions for administering civil service examinations using either the Dictation system, or the Braille system are in place.

We encourage all the Regional Offices to provide us feedback/comments on the conduct of examination for the deaf/hard of hearing examinees. Your inputs shall be valuable in the finalization of the policy on the matter.

Thank you

Originally Signed,

FERNANDO M. PORIO
Director IV