The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) will make a thorough assessment of the Philippine’s education system over the next three years with the aim of coming up with solutions to the problems plaguing the sector.
Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, one of the six commissioners of EDCOM 2, said the education assessment body has already started the comprehensive review of the country’s education system following the Commission’s first official meeting last week.
“Over the next three years EDCOM 2 will undertake an exhaustive assessment of our country’s education system,” Angara said in a statement.
“The task at hand is heavy and critical. We currently have a learning crisis and it is precisely because of this that EDCOM 2 was created. We have to come up with reforms and these will be introduced over the course of the next three years,” the senator said.
The EDCOM 2 aims to address the worrisome academic performances among Filipino students and make tham at par with their international counterparts.
In the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Filipino students attained the lowest score for reading and second to the lowest for science and mathematics out of 79 countries surveyed.
In 2019, the Philippines ranked last for Grade 4 mathematics and science at the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS), which assessed academic performance across 58 countries.
Also in the 2019 Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) study across six ASEAN members, Filipino Grade 5 students underperformed in almost all the metrics utilized, with significant proportions scoring lowest in certain proficiencies.
The World Bank, in November 2021, reported that 90 percent of Filipino 10 year olds were thrust en-year-olds were possibly thrust into “learning poverty” because of the pandemic, such that they do not know how to read and understand a simple passage of text.
“The establishment of EDCOM 2 was prompted by these alarming developments and our work in the Commission will take these findings into consideration when we come up with policy and legislative reforms to improve the performance of our education system,” Angara said.
EDCOM 2 was created through Republic Act No. 11899, which lapsed into law on July 23, 2022.
Angara’s father, former Senate President Edgardo Angara was the first chairman of the EDCOM I and paved the way for the establishment of the current trifocalized education system in the country.
Chairpersons of the EDCOM 2 are Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Francis Escudero and Representatives Roman Romulo and Mark Go.
Aside from Angara, the other Commissioners for EDCOM 2 are Sen. Pia Cayetano and Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, Reps. Jose Francisco Benitez, Khalid Dimaporo, and Pablo John Garcia.
An Advisory Council (AC) has also been formed to provide EDCOM 2 with expert assistance and advice.
Included in the AC are former Ateneo de Manila president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres; Dr. Maria Cynthia Rose Bautista, vice president for academic affairs of the University of the Philippines; Alfredo Ayala, president of the National Teachers College; Dr. Meliton Salazar, president and CEO of PHINMA Education/Philippine Business for Education; Rhodora Angela Ferrer, executive director of the Private Education Assistance Committee; Irene Isaac, former director general of TESDA; Pasig City Mayor Victor Ma. Regis Sotto; Taguig City Mayor Maria Laarni Cayetano; Maria Olivia Lucas, president of the Civil Society Network for Education Reforms (E-Net Philippines); and Dr. Milwida Guevara, president and CEO of Synergeia Foundation.