The Manila Times

‘Sara can reform education system’

JAVIER JOE ISMAEL AND BERNADETTE TAMAYO

SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday hailed presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s decision to appoint presumptive vice president Sara Duterte-Carpio as secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Citing Duterte-Carpio’s landslide win in the vice presidential race, Gatchalian said she has political capital to ensure that much needed reforms in the education sector — including a review of the K to 12 system — will be implemented.

Gatchalian reiterated the urgency of addressing the crisis in the education sector considering the dismal performance of Filipino learners in international assessments.

He also noted Filipinos’ dissatisfaction with the K to 12 program. A Pulse Asia Survey done in December 2019 revealed that only 38 percent of Filipinos were satisfied with the K to 12 program while 47 percent were dissatisfied.

“She is given more than 60 percent of the votes. In terms of political capital that’s huge. That’s a lot of political capital she can use to reform our education system,” the chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture said.

“We cannot do business as usual in the next six years. Someone should take charge and reform many of our processes and systems in order to improve our education system, so I will recommend her to the Department of Education,” the senator said.

Gatchalian ran on a platform of improving the quality of education.

He vowed to ensure that reforms like Republic Act 11713, the Excellence in Teacher Education Act which he sponsored and authored, are properly implemented. RA 11713 aims to improve the quality of teacher education and training.

He sponsored the measure creating the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EdCom).

The proposed EdCom 2 will undertake a comprehensive national assessment and evaluation of the performance of the education sector, including a review on how DepEd, the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) observe their mandates.

Meanwhile, Sen. Emmanuel Joel Villanueva on Thursday said that the Senate is ready to support and cooperate with Duterte-Carpio to improve the country’s educational system.

“We are looking forward to seeing and studying the education platform of the incoming administration, and craft meaningful laws and policy for the education sector,” Villanueva said in a statement. “We’re ready to help evaluate, tweak, or even introduce new initiatives to continue education reform under the leadership of soonto-be Education Secretary Sara Duterte.”

“We believe that our teachers are the keys to education reform and the knowledge crisis. They also bridge our studentry into a workforce that contributes to the nation’s development,” he added.

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2022-05-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/281608129028171

The Manila Times