Senators seek revival of Edcom
Credit to Author: Javier J. Ismael| Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2020 17:03:27 +0000
FIVE senators are pushing for the revival of the Congressional Committee on Education (Edcom) to help government improve the state of education in the country.
Led by Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, the five lawmakers have filed Senate Joint Resolution 10 calling for the creation of the Edcom, which will be composed of five members each from the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Edcom will be tasked to review, assess and evaluate the formal, non-formal, informal and alternative learning systems, including continuing systems of education at all levels.
“A lot has been done to improve the country’s educational system over the years, but it has become apparent that we need to do more to put us at par with the rest of the world,” Angara said.
“The results of the 2018 round of the Program for International Student Assessment or PISA, which saw the Philippines at the bottom [and] second to the last in the list of 79 countries on reading literacy, [and] mathematics and science literacy, [respectively], was a wake up call not only for the DepEd (Department of Education), but to Congress as well. We need to act right away,” Angara added.
Coauthoring the Senate Joint Resolution 10 are Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Mary Grace Poe and Emmanuel Joel Villanueva.
The first Edcom was created in 1990 under the presidency of Corazon Aquino through Joint Resolution 2 passed by Congress.
Headed by Angara’s father, former Senate president Edgardo Angara, Edcom came out with the report “Making Education Work, An Agenda for Reform that paved the way for the implementation of education reforms in the country.”
Among the products of the Edcom report was the “trifocalization” of the education system, with the DepEd having oversight over basic education; the Commission on Higher Education over higher education; and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) for technical and vocational education and training (TVET).
While 25 years have passed since the Edcom report came out, challenges in the education sector remain that have yet to be addressed.
The net enrollment ratio for junior and senior high school in 2018 were at 81.4 percent and 51.2 percent, respectively, while the completion rate of secondary students was only at 84.3 percent in 2017.
The basic education system suffers from chronic shortages of teachers and classrooms, large class sizes and low levels of learning achievement.
In 2018, the passing rate in licensure exams was pegged at a low 37.9 percent.
Tesda has yet to fully implement the provisions of Republic Act 7796, or the “Tesda Act of 1994,”particularly the devolution of TVET to local governments and industry.
The significant increase in the number of state universities and colleges and local universities and colleges since 1992, meanwhile, has led to duplication of degree offerings with consequent decreases in the provision of faculty and physical facilities requirements.
Angara noted that there were also major recommendations of the Edcom that were not acted upon such as the creation or institutionalization of a permanent National Coordinating Council for Education to harmonize the policies and programs of the three education agencies and dovetail them to national development plans.
“The demands of the workplace are constantly changing and so are the challenges to education brought about by the Fourth Industrial Education. The fast pace of change across the globe is demanding shifts in our educational paradigms, away from content-centric
learning to skills and outcome-based learning,” he said.
Just like its predecessor, the new Edcom will come up with a report on its findings, including short- and long-term policy and program recommendations.
The chairmen of the Senate Committees on Basic Education, Arts and Culture and on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education, and the chairmen of the House Committees on Basic Education and Culture and on Higher and Technical Education shall serve as co-chairmen of the Edcom
The committee will have three years from its organization to complete its mandate.