Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has commended presumptive President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.’s decision to appoint presumptive Vice Preisdent Sara Duterte-Carpio as secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) saying the latter can effectively push for reforms in the education sector.
Gatchalian, who currently chairs the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, said Sara Duterte has the political capital to ensure that much-needed reforms in the education sector—including a review of the K to 12 system—would be implemented.
The senator, who is presumptively also winning a reelection, reiterated the urgency of addressing the crisis houding the educationi sector considering the dismal performance of Filipino students in international assessments like the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
On top of this, Gatchalian also said a lot of Filipinos have expressed their dissatisfaction with the K to 12 program, pointing out that a Pulse Asia survey done in December of 2019 revealed that only 38 percent are satisfied with the program while 47 percent are dissatisfied.
Many parents, or 78 percent of them, are also dismayed at the program for they had to shell out more money for education, food and transportation.
"She is given more than 60 percent of the votes. In terms of political capital that's huge. That's a lot of political capital she can use to reform our education system,” said Gatchalian.
"We cannot do business as usual in the next six years. Someone should take charge and reform many of our processes and systems in order to improve our education system so I will recommend her to the Department of Education (DepEd),” the senator had said in an interview before Marcos Jr.’s announcement.