Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones has offered up to God all the challenges being faced by the country’s education sector, and prayed that President Duterte, the staff and officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) and the agency’s staunch supporters be “continually” blessed amid the uncertainties posed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The DepEd chief led the prayer for the education sector, as Filipinos of all faiths were one in praying for the national healing and for the country to overcome the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Heavenly Father, source of all wisdom and knowledge and discernment we come before you to share and to lay at your feet the challenges which we in the education sector face,” she said during the interfaith prayer meeting dubbed "The Whole Nation: Pray As One! Heal As One! Interfaith Prayer Meeting for the Nation” on Saturday evening, May 30.

"We ask you to continually bless our President who consistently supported the aims and goals of education in terms of resources, in terms of declarations as well as support for the decisions that the department has made.”

She likewise included in her prayers those government officials who have rallied behind the DepEd programs and initiatives.

"We also pray for our officials in government who have supported us all the way and come to our aid whether it is for financing, for a bayanihan, for technical aspects and for issues of government in education.”

Briones also prayed for the DepEd staff, officials, regional directors, superintendents, and district supervisors who have been working hard to ensure the full implementation of the agency’s blended learning program.

"Finally, dear Father, we pray mostly for our staff our director, our undersecretaries and our assistant secretaries, and our regional directors as well as our superintendents and district supervisors, all of us , we pray for all of them each one of them may you continually teach us to follow in the footsteps of your son Jesus Christ who was the greatest teacher of all.”

"May you continually remind us that our mandate, our mission, our instructions is to train a child in the way he should go so that when he is old he will not turn from it.”

It was the Fellowship of Christians in Government, Inc. (FOCIG) that led the prayer activity.

The FOCIG had called on all Christians in government, together with its members, partners, and stakeholders, to unite in a “Fasting and Prayer” to specifically pray for President Duterte and key government officials in the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary.