“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”
― Abraham Lincoln
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It is both embarrassing and lamentable that the 2023 Coursera’s Global Skills Report showed the Philippines placing 99th out of 100 countries in terms of technology, business and data science skills.
The results of this study did not resonate much among the educators in the Philippines, but it evoked some notice from the business community.
Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) President Enunina Mangio noted that the country’s competitiveness in the areas covered by the report has been deteriorating.
“I believe this is something that we should seriously assess and address to better improve our ranking,” Mangio said, even as she underscored the importance of technical knowledge and skills especially among young Filipinos.
The PCCI has urged newly appointed Education Secretary Sonny Angara to make it his priority agenda to help attain information and communications technology (ICT) development and proficiency among Filipino students.
“As we prepare our students to be future members and leaders of our workforce, we hope that our government could prioritize honing their skills and equipping them with the right information and tools to cope with the ever-changing digital landscape,” PCCI president Enunina Mangio said.
Angara as education secretary should be in the best position to infuse in the nation’s educational system the needed components of information and communication technology. As a senator, Sonny Angara authored and backed several legislative measures such as the Digital Workforce Competitiveness Act, National Digital Transformation Act, Local ICT Officers Act and the Science and Technology Parks Incentives Act—all aimed at pushing the nation’s growth with digitization.
Meanwhile, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has asked the new DepEd secretary to continue working closely with the private sector in increasing the employability of K-12 graduates.
He said the 12-year basic education was implemented to make the graduates employable.
“But if we look at the results, it’s (employability) not rising, it’s not improving. So we have to do something else,” the President said.
He said the government is looking into offering short specialized courses that could last for three months to one year.
He said he also tackled with the next DepEd chief ways to improve the Filipino students’ rankings in student assessments.
“The second part we are looking at are the results in the international objective test. Especially in the STEM subjects because that’s where we are falling behind and that is the area that is most in demand right now because we are getting more and more technical,” Marcos said.
Apart from improving the students’ performance in science and mathematics, Marcos also directed Angara to focus on enhancing their reading comprehension.
As Secretary Angara begins his stint at the DepEd, he will also have to look into the financial difficulties many teachers both in the public and private schools are suffering, and how to help them.
“We have to, of course, financially make sure that they can feed their families. Because we tend to forget sometimes that teachers have families,” the President said.
The Chief Executive also ordered the retraining of teachers so they can adapt to recent developments and technological advancements. He said the government would likewise beef up feeding programs in schools to address the problem of stunted growth among Filipino children.
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There are numerous concerns aired by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian that Angara will have to manage and handle in the education department. But Sherwin is confident that Sonny will be able to handle these well, given his vast experience in the Senate finance committee and the Second Congressional Commission on Education.
Gatchalian hopes that his colleague in the Senate would analyze the department’s proposed 2025 budget and ensure that it would address the concerns of teachers and students.
The senator also asked Angara to look into the leakage in the private school education subsidy program, which allegedly went to “ghost students,” the subject of a previous Senate investigation.
“The DepEd has promised to change the guidelines of the program so that it only benefits the poor but deserving students. I am requesting Secretary Angara to look into the problems of the voucher system so that public funds will not be wasted,” Gatchalian said.
With these numerous problems and concerns, perhaps Angara will have the shortest adjustment period as education secretary and will need to flex his management skills right away to make a difference.
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