“Marcos Jr.’s SONA outlines a transformative plan for Philippine education, integrating technology, empowering teachers, and expanding TVET to prepare students as innovative and critical thinkers for the nation’s progress”
In President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s 3rd State of the Nation address, he emphasized education as a moral and economic imperative, highlighting current challenges like deficiencies in information literacy, problem-solving, and critical thinking among over half of students in grades 6, 10, and 12.
He called for a continuous national learning recovery program in basic education.
The President underscored the need for a strategic overhaul of the education system to develop students into problem-solvers and critical thinkers.
He stressed the urgency to address both classroom and digital divides by providing modern digital tools, reliable power, and internet access, aiming for technology-driven educational reform.
To tackle outdated and error-prone textbooks, he announced plans to streamline the production and distribution process from three years to one, ensuring current and accurate materials.
Recognizing teachers as the educational system’s foundation, he announced the allocation of funds for an expanded career progression system to promote professional development in teaching and administration.
The President noted increased enrollment in higher education and technical-vocational education and training (TVET), highlighting TVET’s 80 percent employment rate.
He plans to integrate TVET into the Senior High School curriculum to enhance student employability.
Identifying IT and creative sectors as high-potential areas, Marcos Jr. envisions schools as hubs for innovation, providing advanced learning in robotics, AI, and IoT.
TVET Innovation Centers will offer high-level training in cybersecurity and creative industries, preparing students for the evolving job market.
Marcos Jr.’s SONA outlines a transformative plan for Philippine education, integrating technology, empowering teachers, and expanding TVET to prepare students as innovative and critical thinkers for the nation’s progress.
These are indeed forward-thinking plans to transform the Philippine educational landscape.
However, to realize such a system transformation a staggering amount of financial and human resources will need to be mobilized and efficiently harnessed to reverse what many experts are calling an education crisis that will have long term consequences –a daunting challenge to the new Education Secretary Sonny Angara.
This is where the complementary role of the private educational institutions, as mandated in our Constitution, will be crucial, to which the private education sector is pro-actively stepping up as a ready partner whose resources can be tapped as an immediate solution to address current gaps in the public school system.
I was fortunate to have been invited to the thanksgiving dinner hosted by Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) wherein the private educational institutions gathered to honor the new DepED Secretary which has ignited widespread support, particularly from the private education sector.
In a published statement, Fr. Albert N. Delvo, Chairman of COCOPEA, emphasized their readiness “to share our resources in response to immediately address the goals of the Department of Education under your leadership, to meet the education system’s challenges related to quality, employability, and public-private complementarity, including the expansion of government assistance and subsidies.”
They highlighted the value of Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) voucher program in “enhancing educational opportunities for millions of Filipino public school students, fostering complementarity between public and private schools, and driving overall improvement in the quality of education nationwide.”
The Private Education Assistance Committee, trustee of the Fund for Assistance to Private Education, strongly supports Angara’s efforts to sustain government assistance for underprivileged students.
PEAC Executive Director Doris Fernandez Ferrer expressed eagerness to collaborate with Secretary Angara to promote an inclusive, equitable, and superior educational system.
To uplift teachers, Ferrer proposed increasing the Teacher Salary Subsidy for private school educators from P18,000 to P24,000, requiring the State Assistance Council to convene or hold an online referendum.
She emphasized the need for robust accountability systems and timely assessments.
Additionally, she recommended increasing the Education Service Contracting program subsidy and voucher amounts, with eligibility limited to quality-assured providers.
PEAC tackles classroom shortages and overcrowding in public schools by offering financial assistance to students attending private high schools through a range of Government Assistance and Subsidies Programs.
These include the ESC program for students transitioning from elementary to junior high school and the Senior High School Voucher Program for senior high school students.
PEAC also implements the TSS and the In-Service Training programs, enhancing teacher competencies through targeted training.
In the 2022-2023 school year, PEAC’s initiatives benefited over 2.2 million students. Since its inception, approximately 9.7 million students from about 8,000 schools have received support.
The multi-sectoral support for Secretary Angara reflects a shared vision of improving the quality of Philippine education.
With various educational and business groups rallying behind him, Angara is poised to lead significant reforms that will benefit millions of Filipino students who will eventually be running the future of our nation.
