Modernizing higher education (Part 1 of 3 parts)

THE report of the Presidential Task Force for Education (PTFE) containing updates, recommendations and action plans on different issues and concerns in the Philippine education system was presented to the Cabinet at its meeting held at Aguinaldo Hall, Malacañan Palace on December 8, 2008. This was subsequently approved by President Gloria Arroyo.

In improving the higher education sector, the PTFE recommends the following: (1.) Curricular reforms; (2) an Executive Management Development Program for College and University Presidents and Senior Administrators; (3) Faculty development; (4) Conduct of a Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT); (5) Research and development; (6) Quality assurance; (7) Leveling the playing field; and (8) Academe-Industry linkages.

Secretary Emmanuel Angeles, chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, enunciated his plans for the higher education sector in several fora. One of these fora was the 2009 Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) General Assembly held in Cebu on June 24, 2009. For the information and guidance of all stakeholders in the higher education sector, I am devoting this and my next two columns to the full text of Secretary Angeles’ speech.

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Introduction

Thank you very much and I am pleased to be part of this year’s General Assembly of PASUC. It warms my heart to see all of you with renewed energy and enthusiasm to work tirelessly and discuss how state universities and colleges (SUCs) should put their acts together, plan out strategies in facing various issues, and reinforce our commitment in braving the challenges of modern times.

I was invited here to speak on reforms in higher education in response to the global crisis. True enough, higher education institutions, including state universities and colleges cannot escape the adverse effects of the global economic meltdown. A few years back, our government announced the slow yet sure recovery of our economy, indicated by the increasing employment rate, increasing OFW remittances and increasing GNP as supported by government statistics and reviews. But it is just very unfortunate that the Philippines has not been spared the ill-effects of the ailing economy of the United States.

Issues/problems

There is need for a viable reform agenda for Philippine education.

The Philippine education system is still beset with many problems and constraints, despite the well-meaning efforts of the government. It is, therefore, crucial for us to ascertain, once and for all, why up to this time we continue to be confronted with practically the same education issues, problems and constraints that were identified as far back as 1925 by the Monroe study.

Various studies done by the government and private individuals have identified the following basic weaknesses in Philippine education: (1) High drop-out rates; (2) Deteriorating competence in the English language; (3) Public higher education institutions (HEIs) without planning for an integrated system of education; (4) Lack of common standards for accreditation; (5) Absence of a harmonized process for educational evaluation/assessment; (6) Mismatch between the outputs of HEIs and the manpower requirements of industry; (7) Inefficient use of national subsidies; (8) Lack of measures to determine impact of public subsidy to the quality of education; (9) Inadequate government support to poor families; (10) Perceived poor quality of teachers across all levels of education; among others.

Given the above issues, problems and constraints, there is an urgent need to formulate and fast-track the implementation of a viable package of educational reforms and modernization initiatives in collaboration with all the strategic partners—most especially PASUC—and other stakeholders in education in the country.

Quality and relevant education via the New Philippine Education Highway

The PTFE-prescribed strategic approach to realize our goal of producing world-class graduates is to strengthen the New Philippine Education Highway, which ranges from basic, middle-level or tech-voc, to higher education.

The PTFE has adopted this education framework to ensure that the Filipino family’s investments are properly translated into best possible returns.

Basic to this seemingly simplistic approach is the importance of making sure that all children start with the main education highway on the right foot. Studies have shown that the main reason for under-development in many poor countries is the fact that the poor cannot take advantage of many economic opportunities because they are uneducated and ill-equipped to compete in the world of work.

With this in mind, therefore, we need to do something about providing our youth with all essential opportunities and by minimizing, if not totally eliminating completely, drop-outs (zero drop-out rate) especially at the basic level. This may seem to be a very tall order—almost impossible to achieve at first. But if we are to succeed in transforming our educational system into world-class stature, we need to carefully ensure that no child will be left unattended.–Felizardo Y. Francisco, Manila Times

(Secretary Angeles’ speech is continued on Friday, July 31)

opinion@manilatimes.net