Philippine Business and Political Leaders Highlight Need for Education Reform to Achieve First-World Status by 2050

Manila – In a strong call for education reform, leaders from both the public and private sectors in the Philippines emphasized the need to address bottlenecks in basic education to facilitate the country’s transition to a first-world nation by 2050. The remarks were made at the 49th Philippine Business Conference (PBC) held at the Manila Hotel on Wednesday.

According to a news release by the Philippines News Agency, improving public school education is key to achieving this ambitious goal.

PCCI President George Barcelon stressed that improving the quality of education, particularly at public schools, is crucial for the country to move up the global ladder. He emphasized that the quality of teaching staff is also pivotal in strengthening the foundation of basic education in the country.

In the same vein, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, in his address at the PBC, highlighted that 86 percent of students in the Philippines attend public schools, making up the majority of the country’s future workforce. Gatchalian argued that improving basic education is vital for the Philippines to attain first-world status.

Senator Gatchalian also discussed the issues surrounding the K+12 basic education program, which aims to provide students with different tracks, including higher education, employment, and entrepreneurship. According to Gatchalian, 10 percent of the 1.2 million senior high school graduates in 2018 failed to proceed to any of these tracks. He noted that this segment of the population is neither part of the workforce nor part of the school system and should be the government’s focus.

Unemployment rates among senior high school graduates are on the rise, Gatchalian said. Current data indicate that 7.1 percent of the country’s total unemployment is comprised of senior high school graduates. Despite adding two additional years to the high school curriculum and introducing a technical-vocational track, a significant portion of senior high school students remain unemployed. Furthermore, those who do find employment often work in elementary occupations, earning below the national average wage.

To address these issues, Gatchalian revealed that three bills are currently pending in Congress: the Batang Magaling Act, which aims to address the skills mismatch in senior high school; the creation of the Tripartite Council, a body that includes representatives from the government, academe, and private sector to focus on the future of the workforce; and the Enterprise-Based Education and Training Act, aimed at strengthening apprenticeship programs.