Role of administration in 4th Industrial Revolution

Johanna Marie T. de Jesus

The Department of Education has underscored the role of public administration on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). According to DepEd officials, they are realistic enough to know that the Department has a lot of catching up to do with the other countries of Asia, but are also aware that it has much to share in terms of experience, in terms of innovation, in terms of learnings which are directly related to the country’s history and culture as a people. There are a lot of changes in digital drivers which include the advancement of technology and the Internet, among others. DepEd, together with partner agencies and organizations, is venturing into providing Filipino students with access to various technological advancements and equipment as part of their learning process – especially now, during the pandemic. All these changes and developments are already happening, but not all are able to benefit from these. The major challenge, not only in public administration but in all fields as well, is to use these developments to make life more meaningful, to give more services to our people, and to reduce the perennial problem of inequality. The curriculum is continually being revised, now that the COVID-19 pandemic is in our midst, and learning resources are continually being developed particularly with the blended learning in place. The country has been making efforts to achieve SDG 4—to obtain quality education— given its 27 million learners, 866,000 teachers, and 62,000 schools—47,000 of which are public. Now that the DepEd has gone into the access aspect—access to formal education, access to Alternative Learning System (ALS)—we are now moving to upgrading not only access, but quality, officials said. Officials also shared the role of the Senior High School (SHS) Program in strengthening the country’s basic education system, adding the importance of teacher exchanges, researches, and even sports exchanges. They cited the transformation of the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) and the focus on substantive capacity building as part of the many developments in education. Public administration has been turned around and upside down at this time, considering this combination of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and SDG 4. So there is a need to change, and in the Department of Education, it is turning upside down its management system—financial management system, procurement system, and technology and information systems.