Days before the administration marked its one year in office, a group of education workers on Monday, June 26, said the Marcos-Duterte tandem needs “immediate remediation” for failing to address the education crisis in the country.
President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte )Malacañang, OVP photos)

In a press conference, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines presented its assessment of the administration’s performance in addressing the education crisis. For the group, the current administration received a “failing” grade for being unable to implement “game-changing measures” critical to overturning the decline of the country's education quality, sufficiently capacitating the education system to perform its role in nation-building, and safeguarding teachers and education workers’ democratic rights. ACT’s assessment was based on the 10-point challenge issued by teachers and education workers to the new administration in June 2022. “Sa isang taon sa pwesto ni Marcos Jr., labis-labis ang kaniyang kapabayaan at kawalang aksyon sa krisis sa edukasyon at ekonomiya (In one year of Marcos Jr.'s in position, his negligence and lack of action in the education and economic crisis was too much),” ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said.

Not even one

Basilio noted that there is not even one demand from the teacher's 10-point challenge last year that was “prioritized and given urgent action” by the Marcos-Duterte administration. (Courtesy of ACT Philippines)

ACT’s assessment focused on assessing the administration’s response to teachers and education workers' demands encompassing the right to education, economic conditions, and democratic rights. “May konkretong basehan kung bakit bagsak ang gradong ipinapataw namin sa administrasyon (There is a concrete basis why the grade we gave to the administration is failing),” Basilio said. ACT pointed out that the budget allocated to education, for instance, remained “insufficient” despite having a huge shortage of classrooms, equipment, facilities, teachers, and school personnel due to the lack of readiness to return to face-to-face classes. The group alleged that the quality of education in the country is falling because of the “inadequate response to the learning crisis” made worse by the “sloppy” curriculum. “Malinaw na hindi ito binigyang prayoridad sa nakaraang isang taon (It is clear that it was not given priority in the last one year),” Basilio said. ACT also slammed the government for “abandoning” teachers and workers in the education sector because of its lack of action in its long-standing call for salary increases. The group claimed that Marcos’ election promise to raise teachers' salaries did not materialize. Moreover, ACT urged the government to explain the “record-breaking” and “extremely delayed” release of the 2021 Performance-Based Bonus (PBB). ACT also called out Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte for red-tagging its members.