Senator Sherwin Gatchalian stressed on Thursday, April 13 the importance of employing a whole-of-government approach in addressing the challenges of providing quality education to Filipino learners.
He said the concerned agencies could take advantage of their respective expertise to come up with "concrete, targeted and transformative" policies for the country's education sector.
"Together, we can fulfill our vision of providing quality education for every Filipino learner," Gatchalian said during the meeting between the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) and Department of Education (DepEd) officials at the Senate.
Attending the meeting was Vice President and concurrent DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte.
Lawmakers hoped to align their priorities with the DepEd's "MATATAG" agenda.
During the meeting, Senator Pia Cayetano suggested that "soft skills" lessons be integrated into all levels of education in the Philippines after a reported survey of employers showed that many Filipino graduates lacked soft skills.
"How do we do this? I am not proposing a new subject, but I am proposing that it is integrated every step of the way," she said.
Cayetano also shared that among all Asian countries, chief executive officers (CEO) find Filipino graduates "very hardworking and very reliable" and that people skills such as communication, leadership, confidence, problem-solving and the ability to collaborate would help them greatly in their careers.
At the start of the 19th Congress, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said he filed Resolution (SR) No. 8 calling for the review of the K-12 program in view of the country's poor performance in assessments conducted by different international organizations and to ensure that the objectives of the said program are achieved.
Additionally, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) reported in its studies that K-12 graduates who enter the labor market find lower success in landing jobs.
‘’Right now, the call to review the curriculum in basic education, TVET (Technical Vocational Education and Training), and higher education is already being responded to by EDCOM 2, but not only curriculum review as the Commission is also looking into improving learning outcomes, assessment of learning, teacher quality, coordination among education sub-sectors, education financing, employability of our graduates, among others,’’the sid.
Villanueva said he expects to see bigger and better reforms in Philippine education system once the work of EDCOM 2 is complete.
‘’While we still believe that the K-12 curriculum remains in line with education systems worldwide and ensures mobility of Filipinos, especially access to universities abroad, it also needs constant updating to reflect changes in our job market and to adapt to the post-pandemic realities and opportunities,’’ he added.
