Marcos, Duterte vow PH education transformation
SAYING Filipino children should be “at the center of our great reform movement,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday vowed to continue transforming the country’s educational system “to ensure that no one is left behind.”
In his speech during the Basic Education Report (BER) 2024 by Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City, Marcos invited the Filipino people to join with the administration in transforming the country’s education system as envisioned in the “Bagong Pilipinas (New Philippines)” campaign.
The envisioned “Bagong Pilipinas,” he said, will only be achieved if everyone continues transforming the education system for the sake of the Filipino children.
In her report, Duterte cited the accomplishments of the Department of Education (DepEd) over the past year, highlighted by the launch of the Matatag curriculum, improvement of teachers’ welfare, digitalization and construction of more classrooms and school buildings to address the growing number and needs of students.
Duterte said the DepEd was now monitoring the pilot run of the Matatag curriculum from Kinder to Grade 10 to determine areas that may need improvements before its full implementation next school year.
Its acronym stands for: MAke the curriculum relevant to produce job-ready, active, and responsible citizens;
TAke steps to accelerate the delivery of basic education services and provision facilities;
TAke good care of learners by promoting learner well-being, inclusiveness learning, and positive learning environment;
Give support for teachers to teach better.
She also highlighted the implementation of a National Learning Camp, Catch-Up Fridays, and a review of the senior high school curriculum.
Duterte said the DepEd also completed the construction of 24 more schools, bringing the total to 63 that were turned over since her stewardship began in 2022, as well as the creation of more than 3,637 classrooms.
Duterte said the DepEd was also working closely with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to improve the proper coordination of the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) to build more classrooms “faster.”
Duterte also highlighted the department’s push toward digitalization with the formulation of the “DepEd Digi-Ed 2028” program that would enable interconnectivity between schools and DepEd offices, the provision of schoolwide wireless access, and the provision of electronic textbooks for learners.
“In the procurement of textbooks for the Matatag K-10 Curriculum, we will require the winning bidder to provide us with electronic copies that learners may access anytime, anywhere,” Duterte said.
Duterte also cited the improvement of the teachers’ benefits and welfare with the purchase of personal accident insurance from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), and the registration of teachers and employees with the Konsulta Package of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
“We also lowered the Hardship Index cut-off for the Special Hardship Allowance. As a result, an additional 16,532 teachers in 1,812 schools were made eligible to receive the Special Hardship Allowance,” Duterte said.
The DepEd also asked the World Bank to provide a study on teachers’ salaries, which, according to Education Undersecretary
Michael Wesley Poa, will focus on how much increase they should receive in the coming years.
“We are thankful to the World Bank that we would have a basis to study the salaries of teachers once we present this to Congress,” Poa told reporters after Duterte’s speech.
Aside from the study on take-home pay, Duterte also said that administrative tasks of teachers will now be removed through a department order that would be issued this Friday.
She is also studying the creation of a calamity fund for teachers and reviewing teaching loads and overtime pay.
‘Extremely rewarding’
“I thus call on everyone to join us in this daunting but extremely rewarding endeavor under Bagong Pilipinas, marked by a Matatag education system that paves the way for a more empowered, secure, and progressive future,” Marcos said.
“It is not just learners in classrooms who must be graded; it is also the educational system that we must assess as well. In fact, we should hold ourselves to a higher standard than those that we set for our children,” he added.
The President said we should have tougher diagnostic tools to mold Filipino learners “into critical thinkers, into problem solvers and brave visionaries, and to ensure that they wield the skills that will allow them to succeed in the future.”
“I am happy to note that this report, the Basic Education Report, is candid, clear, comprehensive, and I think you will agree, quite compelling,” he said.
Marcos said that the BER is an “annual ritual” that aims not only to improve the country’s education system but also to find feats worth celebrating, and identify flaws that must be corrected.
The President thanked Duterte for her “stewardship of the biggest agency, with the largest constituency, and with the most difficult mandate.”
“We are cognizant that VP Sara and the whole of the DepEd family are pulling out all the stops for the betterment of our basic education by focusing on ensuring our teachers’ teaching quality, competency, and well-being; improving our learners’ capacities and nutrition; [and] building better and more facilities to aid both teaching and learning,” Marcos said.
“These goals will be hard to meet, as all great endeavors often are, but I believe that we will get there with all that you have done thus far and with all that you will accomplish moving forward,” he added.
Noting the daunting tasks of the DepEd, especially during those trying times brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, Marcos said that his instruction is to continue with the transformational journey and ensure that no one will be left behind.