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'Drastic times call for drastic measures': DepEd urged to empower local stakeholders to address education crisis
'Drastic times call for drastic measures': DepEd urged to empower local stakeholders to address education crisis
An advocacy group on Monday, April 8, called on the Department of Education (DepEd) to “harness and strengthen” the capacity of local stakeholders to address the issues persistently hounding the country’s education sector.
During its Annual Membership Meeting, the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) presented recommendations and pressing priority reforms needed at the national and local levels of education governance.
“Our current education crisis still demands more from us,” PBEd Chairman Ramon del Rosario Jr. said.
Del Rosario cited overcrowded classrooms in scorching heat, persistent malnutrition, lack of resources and teacher support, inconsistent assessments, and quality checks not just as “inconveniences” but as “pitfalls” that continue to widen the educational gap and leave millions of Filipino students behind.
“We should let local government units and communities play a more central role in education so they can act on challenges and provide solutions closer to where the problems are,” del Rosario stressed.
Addressing the education crisis
PBEd Executive Director Justine Raagas also underscored the urgent need for all stakeholders to work together to address the education crisis in the country.
“Drastic times call for drastic measures,” Raagas said. “The crisis we are facing is far too big for DepEd to handle alone,” she added.
Raagas explained that a “stronger decentralized system will bolster the capacity of local stakeholders, including government units, local school boards, school heads, teachers – who are in a better position to assess the condition of our learners and what’s happening on the ground.”
PBEd noted that currently, the Philippine basic education system governs a vast system of around 21 million students, taught by over 900,000 teachers in around 60,000 schools in the country.
“In the face of a governance behemoth plunged into a deep crisis, decentralization will speed up the implementation of needed reforms that are more responsive to the specific needs and circumstances of learners in different areas,” PBEd stressed.
Raagas furthered that “a one-size-fits-all approach hinders local participation, delays resource allocation, and impedes contextualized education, ultimately contributing to the Philippines' low performance in assessments” — including the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).
National accountability system
Likewise, PBEd stressed that there should be a “national accountability system” where everyone will be “subjected to the same set of standards and measure of success.”
For PBEd, streamlining bureaucracy would lead to “more efficient” resource delivery.
“This is a whole-of-community approach,” Raagas explained. “Decentralization aims to assist DepEd by relieving them of some responsibilities while granting autonomy to local stakeholders to facilitate targeted interventions aimed at enhancing the country's basic education,” she added.
During the event, PBEd also presented the results of a Pulse Asia survey where the majority of Filipino adults, or 64 percent of respondents, agreed that local government units should have more autonomy and contribution in the education sector within their respective jurisdictions.
The nationwide survey was conducted in December 2023 among 1,200 respondents with a margin of error of plus/minus 2.8 percent.
The event, held at Shangri-La in Makati, was also attended by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who shared his insights as commissioner of the Second Congressional Commission on Education on proposed reforms to improve the education sector.
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