Grade school students at the Longos Elementary School in the coastal village of Alaminos City in Pangasinan province return to their classrooms during the first day of the pilot run of the in-person classes nationwide. (Photos courtesy of Alaminos Public Information Office)
MANILA, Philippines — The bicameral conference committee has approved the proposed creation of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Friday.
In a statement, Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate basic education committee, said this is “another step forward” in pursuing reforms that will address the “education crisis” the country is facing.
The bicam approved last March 15 the reconciled version of the measure of Senate Bill No. 2485 and House Bill No. 10308.
The bills sought the creation of the EDCOM II to undertake a comprehensive national assessment and evaluation of the performance of the country’s education sector.
The purpose of the assessment and evaluation is to “recommend transformative, concrete, and targeted reforms in the sector to make the Philippines globally competitive in both the education and labor markets,” Gatchalian’s statement read.
“The national assessment shall review how the country’s education agencies—the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)—observe their mandates under the law,” it added.
The EDCOM’s national assessment will further include recommendations on specific, targeted, and timebound solutions that will enable education agencies to improve their performance vis-à-vis measurable indicators and deliver accessible, inclusive and quality education that is at par with world standards, according to the reconciled bill.
Earlier, Gatchalian flagged how three international large-scale assessments, namely the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the 2019 Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM), and the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), showed that Filipino learners are failing to master basic competencies and lagging behind their peers overseas.
“Bago pa tumama sa atin ang COVID-19, nahuhuli na ang ating mga kabataan pagdating sa kanilang pag-aaral at pinalala pa ito ng mga pinsalang dulot ng pandemya,” said Gatchalian, who co-authored and sponsored of EDCOM II measure in the Senate.
(Even before COVID-19 hit the country, our youth had been lagging behind in education and this was aggravated by the impact of the pandemic.)
“Napapanahon ang paglikha sa EDCOM II upang magsulong ng mga reporma at tugunan ang krisis na hinaharap ng ating sektor ng edukasyon,” he added.
(It is high time that we create EDCOM II to pursue reforms and address the crisis we are facing in the education sector.)
The EDCOM II shall be composed of 10 members of Congress—five from the Senate and another five from the House of Representatives.
The commission’s co-chairpersons will be the chairpersons of both the Senate Committees on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, and on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education as well as the chairpersons of the House Committees on Basic Education and Culture, and on Higher and Technical Education.
State think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies shall serve as the research arm of the proposed EDCOM II.