The Department of Education (DepEd) will highlight the country’s efforts to improve the quality of education as well as the challenges faced by the education sector in the Education World Forum (EWF) set next week.
“We will advance our accomplishments and challenges in basic education in the Philippines, especially in attaining quality education,” Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said in a statement issued Thursday, May 19.
Briones is set to address the plenary session of the EWF on equity and resources in basic education.
“Our participation is aligned with our commitment to globalize the quality of our education and establish stronger partnerships with international communities,” Briones said.
Considered the world’s largest gathering of education and skills ministers, this year’s EWF will be held in London, the United Kingdom from May 22 to 25.
Briones will join over 125 ministers in the EWF and discuss challenges in accessing and quality education in the plenary.
DepEd said that the Forum aims to discuss strategies for planning and developing education to support individual and collective resilience, economic progress, and the contribution education can or should make.
Briones will be joined by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Director of Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher, who initiated and oversees the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
The plenary session will be moderated by English journalist David Aaronovitch.
DepEd said that the session will also discuss social and emotional learning, girls' education, and trends shaping education that are relevant to all levels of education.
With the theme, “Education: building forward together; stronger, bolder, better,” the four-day event will feature sessions on learning from education and how all stakeholders' responses have strengthened, changed, and improved.
Briones has a vast portfolio of international and intergovernmental engagements in public policy and education.
In 2005 and 2017, she already addressed the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. Briones is the Vice President of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Council (2021-2022) and was the Chairperson of the ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting (2020-2021).
As DepEd Secretary, Briones has represented the Philippines in various ministerial meetings, high-level debates, and discussions with the UN and its other specialized agencies, such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO).
Briones joined fellow ministers of education from around the world to discuss the challenges and share good practices and successes in the delivery of quality education during the Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 2019.
She also participated in multilateral high-level meetings such as the Economic and Social Council High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development, Global Education Meeting High-Level Segment, and APEC Education Ministers Meeting.
Due to her efforts and with the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippines was elected to UNESCO’s Executive Board and earned UNICEF’s five-star rating recognition for the Philippines’ readiness to deliver remote learning in response to school closures.
Briones will be accompanied by Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan, Director Margarita Consolacion Ballesteros, and Director Nina Bianca Sanglay in the 2022 EWF.