For Education Secretary Leonor Briones, the biggest challenge in the education sector to date is quality.
During the public forum entitled “Revisiting the EDCOM of 1991: Continuities and Discontinuities in Philippine Education Sector Reform” on Aug. 13, Briones said that there have always been deep-seated challenges in the education sector which have remained unaddressed until now.
“ what is our most, what is the biggest challenge? Like all of us, we all agree, I believe that the biggest challenge right now is quality,” Briones said. “The Constitution mandates us to provide not merely education for all Filipinos but quality education for each Filipino learner,” she added.
While there are several challenges in education such as infrastructure, teaching, curriculum - among others - Briones noted that when put everything together, the biggest challenge confronting the education sector at present is quality “which we should attend to because that is the mandate of the Constitution.”
The public forum, organized by DepEd, discussed the study on the 1991 Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM) Report which was commissioned by DepEd.
“This study, this assessment of the implementation impact and implications of EDCOM 1,” Briones said. “We decided on this before the pandemic, before the proposal to have an EDCOM 2, because this would see that we were already fulfilling some of our goals,” she added.
Under her leadership, DepEd has set a 10-point program. Briones explained that the study was also part of DepEd’s “EduKalidad” Program which was launched even before the pandemic and the two bills on EDCOM were proposed.
“EduKalidad,” Briones said, features the “K-I-T-E” formula which focuses on further strengthening the K to 12 program; improvement in the learning environment; upskilling and reskilling of teachers; and engagement of stakeholders for support and collaboration.
Briones said that reviewing the 1991 to find out how it was implemented will also help the DepEd identify the issues as it pivots towards quality education.
“Right from the beginning, our concern was quality,” Briones said. “This study was commissioned by the DepEd because the very institution which should have an interest in the EDCOM, obviously, it's the DepEd and this is part of our pivot towards quality education quality,” she added.
During the forum, resource persons looked closely on how many goals and objectives the country has achieved as set in the report.
Citing the findings of the study, Briones noted that the EDCOM 1 attained 50 percent implementation and 50 percent non-implementation “so it is still something to look at.”