Education advocates urged President Duterte to sign the Education Commission (EdCom) 2 bill into law to address the ongoing learning crisis and prevent the “collapse” of the country’s education system.
“We call on President Duterte to sign this law for a better educational system all Filipinos deserve, the lasting legacy on education that we need,” said Love Basillote, the Executive Director of the advocacy group Philippine Business for Education (PBEd).
“This is indeed a crucial step forward in addressing the country’s education crisis and preventing the collapse of our education system,” she added.
PBEd said that a system-wide reform to address the learning crisis in the country is “one signature away” as both houses of Congress ratified this week the revival of EdCom.
“It has been more than three decades since an EdCom was last called,” PBEd said in a statement. “It is now up to President Duterte to leave a legacy that will build the competency of learners and future workforce,” the group added.
PBEd noted that with EdCom 2, legislators and stakeholders from the academe, business sector, civil society organizations, teacher organizations, parents, and learners can “review and amend existing policies and legislation to address current gaps and improve the quality of Philippine education.”
Senator Win Gatchalian, in his plenary speech, cited that the country’s learning poverty level is at 90.5 percent --- wherein nine out of ten students cannot read simple text.
“A crisis of this magnitude requires no less than the most intensive policy review in the history of our government through the creation of EDCOM 2,” Gatchalian said.
Senator Joel Villanueva also said that the EDCOM 2 is a “landmark bill because it can pave the way for identifying a set of innovative, targeted, and coordinated policy reforms in education.”
PBEd thanked the Senate and House of Representatives for ratifying the EdCom 2 Bill and expressed her gratitude to the 18th Congress for finally approving the bill.
“We thank the Chairpersons of education committees in both Houses of Congress,” Basillote said as she expressed gratitude to all the bill sponsors, the bicameral members, legislative staff, education agencies, and other education advocates who "poured in an effort" in crafting the EdCom 2 bill.