During their meeting on Saturday, June 25, there was a consensus on policy matters that need immediate attention as agreed upon by outgoing Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones and Vice President-elect and incoming DepEd Chief Sara Duterte: the guidelines for the incoming school year and the agency’s budget for 2023.
Issuing a statement, DepEd said that “these will be the subject of immediate consultations between the concerned members of both teams.”
DepEd Transition Teams, led by Briones and Duterte, held their first in-person meeting at the DepEd Office of the Secretary in Pasig City.
The meeting, DepEd said, was preceded by a preparatory exchange of letters and communications to define the agenda of the meeting.
DepEd said that the program started with a one-on-one meeting between the Vice President-elect and the Secretary before the Transition Team meeting.
Briones provided an overview of the department’s work under the outgoing administration. These include a summary of the scope of DepEd's responsibility and the contribution of the present administration to basic education reforms.
The outgoing DepEd Chief also identified matters requiring immediate policy attention such as the guidelines for the incoming School Year (SY) 2022-2023.
Duterte, in her response, acknowledged the contribution of the present DepEd team to the programs of President Duterte.
The incoming DepEd Secretary also thanked the Briones for her immediate statement of support when she was identified to lead the agency under the Marcos administration.
Aside from school opening guidelines and next year’s budget, Duterte also noted the UN Transforming Education Summit that will happen at the time of the UN General Assembly in September.
The outgoing administration will transition the work of the National Consultations Convening Committee to the new administration.
It will be recalled that the first leg of the consultations was held last June 14 at the National Educators' Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) in Baguio City.