PH education is 30 years late for global education commitment – study

Despite the changes in the basic education system being implemented by the Department of Education (DepEd), an international study said that the Philippines will still be “30 years late for its global education commitments.”

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said that “education needs to fundamentally change if we are to reach our global development goals.”

In its latest Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, it cited the “potential for education to propel progress towards all global goals outlined in the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs).” It also showed that “education needs a major transformation to fulfill that potential and meet the current challenges facing humanity and the planet.”

UNESCO said that there is an urgent need for greater headway in education because based on the current trends, “the world will achieve universal primary education in 2042, universal lower secondary education in 2059 and universal upper secondary education in 2084.” This, UNESCO said, would mean that the world would be half a century late for the 2030 SDG deadline.

“The Philippines is set to achieve universal primary education in 2040, universal lower secondary education in 2050 and universal upper secondary education in 2060,” the report said. “Other countries set to only achieve their commitments in 2060 include Finland, Norway and Malaysia,” it added.

The report entitled, “Education for people and planet” showed the need for education systems to step up attention to environmental concerns.

UNESCO said that while in the majority of countries, education is the best indicator of climate change awareness, half of countries’ curricula worldwide, including the Philippines’, do not explicitly mention climate change in their content.

In Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, the report said that “almost 40 percent of 15-year-old students only have basic knowledge about environmental issues.”

“Fundamental change is needed in the way we think about education’s role in global development, because it has a catalytic impact on the well-being of individuals and the future of our planet,” UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said.