Angara eyes 10-year education program

REP. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara urged the government to craft a 10year education investment program that would “address all gaps in the educational system”—from lack of classrooms, making public schools tech-savvy, to feeding malnourished school kids.

“We should make the educational system march in lock step with the 21st century,” Angara, a senatorial candidate under the Team PNoy coalition, said.

Angara, chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, said that the Department of Education can tap a pool of experts, educational managers and professionals to craft and implement the program.

He said that the sustained growth under President Benigno Aquino 3rd’s administration provides the ideal context to push through with a longterm education investment program.

“Now is the time to invest heavily in our education, given we are serious about instituting reforms and innovation into government. Our population is also increasingly becoming younger, more energetic. As they hold so much potential, we will need to give them whatever it is they will need to build a brighter future for the country,” Angara said.

Infrastructure investment, he stressed, should also include the necessary tools and materials for a modern education.

Public schools should be computerized and connected to the web as educational hardware and software should be a regular feature, he said.

Angara pointed out that the basic, nagging problem of malnourished school kids should also be reined in.

“A grand plan for modernizing our educational system is already being rolled out and only serious, sustained and hearty investments would lead to having modern and innovative schools,” the legislator explained.