malaysiangMANILA: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has approved ‘in principle’ the proposed creation of a Cabinet cluster for education that will be tasked to create a 10-year national plan aimed at addressing the learning gaps in the country, Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sonny Angara said Tuesday.
Marcos gave his approval during a sectoral meeting held in Malacañan Palace, Angara told Palace reporters in a press briefing.
‘In principle, he approves of it. And he’d like us to fast-track some of the actions dahil nakikita niya ‘yung (because he sees the) urgency. It’s a very deep-seated problem. Kumbaga, medyo matagal-tagal na na kailangang tugunan. Sabi niya talagang kailangan itong cluster (It needed to be addressed for quite some time now. He said creating the cluster is necessary),’ he said.
Angara said the Cabinet cluster for education would consist of the DepEd, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the Department of Labor and
Employment, and the Department of Budget and Management.
Marcos has directed the member agencies of the approved Cabinet cluster to carry out ‘positive interventions’ for Filipino learners, he said.
The proposal to create the Cabinet cluster was presented by the 2nd Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM) during the sectoral meeting.
Malacañang Press Briefer Daphne Oseña-Paez said Marcos has instructed the Cabinet cluster to pursue a ‘coherent and system-wide’ national integrated education and workforce development strategy.
EDCOM executive director Karol Mark Yee said the Cabinet cluster would formulate a 10-year integrated national education and workforce development plan that would help address the ‘failed system of Philippine education.’
Yee cited the need to create the education cluster to ensure the delivery of an ‘integrated’ system in the education sector.
He noted that while concerned government agencies are doing their respective jobs, they do it independently “with no mechanism of reall
y coordinating (and) making sure that the plans come together.”
‘Malinaw (It’s clear) that DepEd, of course, has to do its work in terms of resolving the learning crisis, but it’s not something that it could achieve on its own. Kailangan tulungan talaga ‘yung agencies. Malaki iyong ginagampanan ng CHED and TESDA (Concerned agencies have to work together. CHED and TESDA also have a big role here),” Yee said.
‘It’s really the national education and workforce development plan that is long-term that will anchor them all to make sure that there is one coherent direction,’ he added.
Source: Philippines News Agency
