There’s a lot of political noise these days—the usual grandstanding, political skirmishes and headline-chasing that make governance look like a cacophony of voices shouting over a rock concert. But while the talking heads are busy arguing, a newspaper report went hardly noticed, much less discussed in our public discourse.

A number of media organizations* reported on the findings of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2), which conducted focus group discussions with junior high school students from President Corazon C. Aquino High School in Baseco, Port Area, Manila, to assess the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (Aral) Summer Program and collect direct feedback.

The findings, while hardly surprising, are nevertheless astonishing: classrooms are quietly collapsing under the weight of overcrowding, fear and neglect. More specifically, the report asserts that overcrowded classrooms and bullying drive absenteeism and lower engagement, while smaller class sizes are linked to better participation and safer learning environments.

If we truly care about the future, we should set aside these partisan intramurals and focus on fighting for our country’s future. We need to stop treating education as a convenient campaign slogan and start treating it like the national project it actually is. As José Rizal reminds us in his essay Sobre la indolencia de los Filipinos, “Without education and liberty, that soil and sun of mankind, no reform is possible, no measure can give the result desired.” Education is the foundation of reform and the only path to a bright future.

When I was a young student at Holy Child Catholic School in Tondo, bullying was hardly an issue. But in recent years, educators have focused on how bullying directly undermines learning by disrupting the mental, emotional and physical conditions students need to focus, participate and succeed.

In the Edcom 2 findings, several students described “regular classes as chaotic, noisy and disruptive, saying some classmates engage in bullying behaviors such as physical aggression and taking of belongings.” According to the students, bullying sometimes escalates into coordinated attacks, leading to fear, absenteeism and avoidance of school, (A. Gregorio, “Smaller classrooms, more learning, says Edcom 2,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 1, 2026, https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2237477/smaller-classrooms-more-learning-says-edcom-2).

What can be done about it? The policy options are not entirely new. Many education experts have studied and proposed these for a long time:

• It is imperative that we reduce student-teacher ratios, prioritizing the most crowded schools. A classroom of 60 or more students is simply not conducive to learning. Set an interim target of maybe 30:1 and Congress must fund hiring and deployment to reach it. Money spent on more teachers is an investment in safer, more effective classrooms—and less costly than dealing with the social fallout of neglected cohorts.

• This is something that we endlessly discuss when I was in the legislature especially during budget season—Expand school infrastructure strategically by fast-tracking modular classrooms and repurposing underused public buildings for daytime learning. Let us do this right and not let “temporary” fixes become the norm of education governance.

• Make anti-bullying policy real, not just a ritual. Education officials need to mandate clear, school-wide protocols for reporting, investigation and protection that include anonymous reporting channels, timely disciplinary follow-through and protections against retaliation.

• Strengthen school-based mental health and protection services. My daughter, Senator Camille Villar, has championed this effort, and I agree with her: let us fund school counselors, social workers and child-protection officers, and ensure referral pathways to community services. Students who feel seen and supported are more likely to come to class and learn.

• Rethink the role of technology in the classroom. While technology promises to transform education, its unchecked presence often undermines learning. During my time, we did not have computers and other devices that fragment attention. Today, the prevalence of these devices, with students toggling between lesson content and distractions like social media, games and messaging, makes them tools for passive consumption rather than active learning.

None of this is cheap. More importantly, it requires political will. But ask what is more expensive: a generation that finishes basic education fewer years behind, less skilled, and more likely to drop out or drift into risky paths? Investing in teachers, safe schools, mental health and anti-bullying mechanisms is not an unnecessary expense—it is fiscally and morally prudent. It is a fight for the future of our country.

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