Marcos OKs creation of Cabinet cluster to address education issues

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday approved “in principle” the creation of a Cabinet cluster for education to centralize various agencies in addressing learning gaps in education.

This developed after Marcos presided over a sectoral meeting with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM2) in Malacañang.

According to Education Secretary Sonny Angara, Marcos, upon approving the cluster’s creation, ordered the DepEd and other concerned agencies to fast-track its measures addressing gaps in education.

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“And the President basically says at the end of the meeting that in principle he approves of it and he’d like us to fast-track some of the actions,” said Angara in a Palace briefer.

“He sees the urgency and it’s a very deep-seated problem. It’s a long-term problem that needs to be addressed. So, sabi niya talagang kailangan itong cluster (he stressed the need for this cluster),” he added.

But Angara said the President reminded them that the cluster is only a “coordination mechanism” and ordered them to “follow through” with the needs of each sector, from early childhood development up until college.

“Lahat ‘yun dapat, sabi niya, may positive interventions tayo for our learners,” he said.

(He said that in all of those, we should have positive interventions for our learners.)

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The cluster will be composed of the DepEd, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Labor and Employment, and the Department of Budget and Management.

Meanwhile, EDCOM2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee explained that the cluster would tackle the National Education and Workforce Development Plan to anchor all involved agencies into “one coherent direction.”

“Kailangan tuloy-tuloy yung reforms because if it is interrupted, bagsak na naman tayo. So mahalagang-mahalaga ‘yung gagampanan ng cluster. And we are grateful to the President for really seeing this very quickly,” he said.

(We need continuous reforms because if it is interrupted, we will fail again. So the role of the cluster is very important. And we are grateful to the President for really seeing this very quickly.)

He said Marcos himself acknowledged the lack of a system, noting that the government has “different things happening but not working together.”

“We need to fix that,” Yee quoted Marcos as saying.