By Hannah Torregoza

Five senators are pushing for the revival of the congressional committee on education (EDCOM) to help the government improve the state of education in the Philippines.

Senate Joint Resolution No. 10, introduced by Senators Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, Sherwin Gatchalian, Grace Poe, Franklin Drilon, and Joel Villanueva aims to create the EDCOM, which 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.

The proposed EDCOM, which will be composed of five members each from the Senate and the House of Representatives, will aid the government in addressing the new challenges facing the Philippine education sector.

Angara said the results of the 2018 round of the Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA, serves as a “wake up call” not only for the Department of Education (DepEd) but to Congress as well.”

Out of 79 countries, the Philippines in the PISA study ranked last for Reading Literacy and second to the last for Mathematics and Science Literacy.

“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 in a statement.

“We need to act right away,” the Senate finance committee chief and a known advocate for educational reforms, stressed on Friday.

The first EDCOM was established in 1990 during then President Corazon Aquino’s term through Joint Resolution No. 2 passed by Congress and was headed by former Senate President Edgardo J. Angara.

Back then, Angara said the EDCOM came out with a report “Making Education Work, An Agenda for Reform” that paved the way for the implementation of education reforms in the country.

Angara said that 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 (CHED) for higher education; and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for technical and vocational education and training (TVET).

The senator lamented that 25 years have passed since the EDCOM report came out but challenges remain in the education sector that have yet to be addressed.

He also 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.

The National Coordinating Council for Education is supposed 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,” Angara pointed out.

“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 further said.

Just like its predecessor, Angara said the new EDCOM will come up with a report on its findings, including short and long-term policy, and program recommendations.

Under the measure, the chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture and the head of the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education and their counterpart chairpersons at the House of Representatives shall serve as co-chairs of the EDCOM.

Presently, Gatchalian chairs the Senate basic education panel, while Villanueva heads the senate panel on higher and technical education.

Under the measure, the EDCOM will have three years from its organization to complete its mandate.