ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR III
What we already know doesn’t need to be repeated. Perhaps we must, though, if only to acknowledge our errors and make amends. We are consistently informed that something is wrong with our educational system.
Our standing in these worldwide yardsticks is persistently low, and while we can applaud ourselves for hosting several award ceremonies and producing hundreds of Latin Honor Graduates in addition to numerous high scorers, the ongoing embarrassment of our position is evident.
The link herein attached https://edcom2.gov.ph/edcom-2-releases-year-one-report/:
The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) released findings during its first year of operation on January 23, 2024.
In its Year One Report entitled “Miseducation: The Failed System of Philippine Education”, the Commission highlighted its findings in twelve out of its twenty-eight Priority Areas, following its first year of work. This is in line with its mandate under RA 11899 to report to Congress its accomplishments, findings and recommendations on a periodic basis.
EDCOM 2 was formally convened on January 23, 2023, and has since initiated a national effort to diagnose the primary challenges leading to poor learning outcomes, together with its Advisory Council, Standing Committee members, and its Technical Secretariat.
The Commission has since conducted extensive research as well as 19 hearings and consultations, 12 focused group discussions, and 23 site visits all over the country, in its mission to “undertake a comprehensive national assessment and evaluation of the performance of the Philippine education sector”.
The report included 40 recommendations of EDCOM, including actions taken by the Commission in the past year.
In Early Childhood Care and Development, EDCOM 2 urged the government to find possible complementarities of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and the Food Stamp Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
To solve dilemmas in textbook procurement, the Commission also recommended that the Department of Education should look into the possibility of procuring books that are already available on the market rather than engaging publishers to develop new ones.
Under its recommendations for Higher Education, the Commission stressed the need to prioritize the poorest of the poor for the Tertiary Education Subsidy.
This is following the Commission’s findings that between 2018 and 2022, the proportion of the grantees of the subsidy that comes from DSWD’s Listahanan 2.0 and 4Ps has declined markedly, from 74% to 31%.
EDCOM 2 also found that teachers continue to bear the burden of about 50 administrative and ancillary tasks, despite efforts to allow them to focus on teaching across many administrations.
We fervently believe that progress will inevitably be made and that significant progress is achievable. Among all the negative news the industry is receiving, the EDCOM II offers a ray of hope.We have to stop bragging about how much better we are and how many honor students we have, even though, in reality, we are not much better off when compared to the world’s lowest achievers.
We hope for a better future for education and urge that, following EDCOM II’s conclusion in 2025, we continue to assist the evolving of that future.
Empty promises
Education is regarded as key to success and a better life. This is why most people seek education for those without are bound to be left in this competitive world. It truly matters that one has the necessary education duly supported by credentials issued by the learning institution that the person had passed through. One cannot just claim as educated without proof of such, usually through school credentials that is obtained by the grit of ones perseverance to earn education. In the quest for knowledge, many learners had imbibed that mistaken notion that the academic fields are far more rewarding than vocational ones.
The belief had led many students to taking courses that lead to academic degrees, setting aside choices that led to vocational skills on the thought that such are second class.
For several decades we have accepted that mistaken notion, egging our students to take biased preferences for degree courses than vocational. Those who could not cope with the rigors of academic studies are bound to return to the first step of the vocational field. In the same manner, those taking vocational courses who later realize the better prospect of finishing an academic degree would be forced to start all over in taking a new course. The situation had caused many students so much waste of time, money and efforts pursuing the aptest course. The great divide between academic and vocational as set by a national college entrance test had deprived many students from taking the right course or vocation that could bring them to success and a better life.
But the mistaken notion had come to pass as our government had taken the better road dubbed as ladderized education. The program affords students usefulness of whatever level of education is attained as there is apt recognition at any stage of the ladder. One taking academic courses is afforded vocational and technical subjects that are integrated in the main course and the same serves as fallback once the student fails to complete the academic ladder. The student may utilize the technical and vocational subjects in obtaining skills accreditation that could be used in finding a decent gainful employment both here and abroad.
Noteworthy is the shift of interest for those who have earned academic degrees seeking technical and vocational skills as a worthy fallback. It cannot be gainsaid that many degree holders are in the class of the unemployed and the underemployed primarily because of lack of opportunities for academic degree holders. The situation is made even worse as the competition among those seeking jobs had become too steep that an academic degree is often still lacking. And there is that question of competence which many degree holders are found bereft, requiring further training despite long years of schooling.
We have reached the time of awakening when we come to the realization that earning an academic degree is not truly worthy of what it promises to bring as technical and vocational skills had turned to be the greater demand in the world of work and global competition.
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