There might be a “little bit” of policy shift in the Department of Education (DepEd) with the forthcoming appointment of Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara as Education Secretary.
This was disclosed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on the sidelines of the distribution of financial assistance in Sulu on Friday.
When asked by reporters if Angara’s appointment to DepEd would mean a policy shift, particularly on the K-12 curriculum, President Marcos replied, “maybe a little bit.”
“Because the last time I spoke to him, just after we announced that he was going to be the next Secretary of DepEd, nag-usap kami and we are — there are two elements that we paid attention to,” he explained.
The two elements are the employability of Filipino students and the government’s efforts to improve their global learning assessment.
President Marcos said the K-12 curriculum seemed to have not served its purpose of improving the employability of Filipino students.
“If you remember, ginawa natin ‘yung K-12 dahil hinahanap ang years of training sa ating mga nag-a-apply. At sinasabi dito sa Pilipinas, kulang dahil 10 years lang, kailangang 12 years. Okay. So that was the reason we did it para employable ‘yung mga graduate natin,” the President noted.
“Pero kung titingnan natin ang naging resulta, hindi naging — hindi tumaas, hindi gumaganda ang employability nila. So, we have to do something else,” he added.
To address the issue, the government is coming up with the so-called “mini courses,” or short-term courses for students who will be taking specialty courses.
However, the President said the government has to work closely with the private sector so it can guarantee the supply of skilled workers coming into an industry.
“So, tinitiyak namin na paglabas na may magandang pag-asa magkatrabaho, if not directly already to an industry employer,” he said.
For the second element, President Marcos said DepEd needs to work on improving Filipino students’ global learning assessments especially on Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics (STEM) subjects where most Filipino students are falling behind.
Angara is expected to take the helm of DepEd on July 19. | PND
