(JOJO RINOZA / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
For education reforms to be successful, the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) underscored the need for strong collaboration and stakeholder participation.
“It is very important that there is a roadmap and that there is a coherent strategy and target for the education system,” EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee said during the LIDER 7 event of the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) held last week.
Hosted by PEAC Executive Director and EDCOM 2 Advisory Council Member Rhodora Angela F. Ferrer, the event is part of a series of fora and discussions by PEAC that tackles education reforms.
Yee explained that aside from studying the possible structures that could enhance the coordination of government agencies, the Commission must also consider other factors --- beginning with existing processes and systems within the government.
He cited as an example the need for a shared, coordinated strategy between government agencies, detailing the importance of strengthening the link between the Philippine Development Plan, the General Appropriations Act (GAA) targets, and the agencies’ Major Final Outputs (MFOs), saying that these can be “leveraged to help align strategies” within and across agencies.
“Coordination will be difficult if, to begin with, strategies are not aligned and connected,” Yee said in Filipino.
He added that there are “so many instruments” of government that should allow for proper planning and coordination.
“Our role in EDCOM is how to help enable genuine coordination and genuine assessment of progress and monitoring of agencies,” he explained.
Meanwhile, EDCOM 2 Chief Legal Officer Joseph Noel Estrada explained the need to build public and stakeholder support for the reform initiatives by the Commission.
Estrada noted that the success of the Commission lies in implementing legislation beyond EDCOM 2’s three-year lifespan.
“We have to oversee that these solutions are implemented,” he said, adding that there should be an office that would constantly look at education reforms.
Estrada also underscored the need to establish public support for education.
“If you get the numbers, if you get the supporters of education, then that’s good politics,” he said. “Our reforms should survive several administrations in the long-term,” he added.
Yee also underlined the critical role played by education stakeholders in building a strong constituency for reform as one of the insights that have emerged in the meetings of the Standing Committee on Governance and Finance.
“We need a strong constituency for reform to make sure that there is a check and balance in government after EDCOM 2 [to ensure continuity in efforts to improve quality of education],” Yee said.
Yee also stressed that organizations for parents, industries, civil society organizations (CSOs), and other stakeholders need to organize amongst themselves to make sure that the “government does not stray from its path to reform.”
EDCOM 2 is the national commission tasked to undertake a comprehensive national assessment and evaluation of the performance of the Philippine education sector.