FOR as long as politicians benefit from the miseducation and maleducation of the Filipinos — and the poverty of mind and life it brings — we cannot expect an end to the education problems that we have known and have talked about extensively for years.
The blame game is on! President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said it: The K-12 has failed. Vice President Sara Duterte said it, too, when she presented the Basic Education Report 2023 in the presence of the President. State of the Nation Addresses have reverberated the problems in the halls of Congress and the nation. International reports of our learners’ performance have slapped our faces many times in front of the global audience. Now, some senators are singing in unison this same conclusion. And expect more noise about this as a campaign issue as we feel the 2028 election fever.
And it took us 12 long years to realize the failure of this education system since it was signed into law as Republic Act (RA) 10533 on May 15, 2013? After millions — 27 million in 2025 — of Filipino children and their families, year after year, entrusted their future to their government? And after spending billions in resources?
We don’t need political grandstanding for this conclusion. The best orchestra that plays the dirges and elegy over dying, if not dead, Philippine education is that of the Education Commission 2 (EdCom 2), which lapsed into law in July 2022, and which published reports “Miseducation: the Failed System of Philippine Education” in 2024, and “Fixing the Foundations: A Matter of National Survival” in 2025. Both reports present a comprehensive, evidence-based narrative derived from exhaustive data from almost all stakeholders of Philippine education. It has everything we need to know.
Again, we don’t need political grandstanding for this conclusion. This column has written several articles citing various problems and solutions.
We need solutions, execution and collaboration, which are all spelled out in the EdCom 2 reports. Political statements may want to mouth out the brains culled from these reports, not motherhood statements that may instill bandwagon effect of stupid generalizations capitalizing on the sentiments of the general public which is disappointed and angry over their frustrations.
Serious about solving education problems? Here are some commonsensical ideas that can solve the problem, and we don’t need a genius to agree.
Fix the educational systems and leave it to educated educators — not politicians. Harmonize and align the trifocalized system — Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Technical Education Skills Development Authority alongside other agencies related to it. They must talk! Provide for appropriate budgets — highest for education that is insulated from corruption.
Ensure classrooms and other educational infrastructures that will promote learning and capitalize on learning technology. Make classrooms accessible, safe and conducive to learning.
Pay public and private teachers well to inspire and enable them to do their teaching jobs. Shield from political favors the ranking, hiring and promotion processes of teachers and school leaders. Ensure their training and lifelong learning. Teachers should only teach their specialized areas of expertise. Hire enough teachers to ensure an ideal teacher-learner ratio. Revisit and align teacher education curriculum and board examination.
Feed the children and curb malnutrition from early childhood because it is nearly impossible to teach a hungry child with an underdeveloped brain. Strengthen the early childhood education and development so that they have literacy and numeracy as school entrants. Engage parents! Make available textbooks and educational resources and technology that can optimize their learning.
Consult the world of work and engage the industry for the competencies that they need for present and future jobs, and design the curriculum toward that. Go back to the basics of what is needed by the learned with the end-in-mind of the jobs that await them in the world of work. Government should foresee competencies needed by jobs and business in the future.
Create a village that will raise a Filipino child.
A nest of excellence
This section is the fourth in a series of features of higher education institutions that deserve the spotlight for their remarkable achievements.
Over 50 years ago, the Philippine Institute of Fisheries Technology was established in Nasugbu, Batangas, (RA 685) through Rep. Apolinario Reyes Apacible and Director Deogracias Valladolid. Founded on May 9, 1952, it began operations in 1957 as the Batangas School of Fisheries — a two-story building on land donated by Roxas y Cia. The school offered a secondary fishery curriculum.
In 1972, it introduced a two-and-a-half-year Diploma in Fishery Technology, then a four-year Bachelor of Science in Fishery Education in 1975 and 1978. Renamed the Apolinario R. Apacible School of Fisheries (Arasof) in 1981, it expanded to offer elementary education and short-term courses. Significant changes came in 1994 when Arasof fell under the CHED, leading to new degree programs, including Bachelor of Science in Food Technology, Hotel and Restaurant Management, and Education by 1996, and Information Management and Technology by 1997.
On Feb. 25, 2000, the board of trustees of the Pablo Borbon Memorial Institute of Technology made a significant decision to integrate Arasof and several other colleges. This strategic move culminated in the establishment of the Batangas State University on March 22, 2001, (RA 9045).
Today, this institution is officially known as Batangas State University-The National Engineering University. The Arasof-Nasugbu Campus is a thriving hub of education, serving a diverse student population of over 7,300 individuals across six colleges and a laboratory school. The campus is particularly celebrated for its impressive pass rates on various licensure exams, a testament to the quality of education offered. It has garnered distinguished accreditations, notably becoming the first state university in the Philippines to achieve ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accreditation for its engineering programs. In addition to engineering, the university has extended its commitment to excellence by securing Aaccup (Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines) Level II accreditation for its nursing, and nutrition and dietetics programs. The Information Technology program has achieved Aaccup Level III phase 2 status, while College of Teacher Education in BEEd program retained its Aaccup Level III phase 2 status and BSEd programs achieved Aaccup Level IV phase 2 status.
These accomplishments reflect the institution’s unwavering dedication to maintaining high educational standards. The College of Teacher Education at Batangas State University has earned recognition as a CHED Center of Development. Recently remarkable is the success of the College of Criminology, which recorded an impressive 95.74 percent pass rate in the February 2025 licensure exam, while the College of Teacher Education consistently graduates top performers, including Maria Kristel Turaray Bendicio, who ranked among the top 5 in the September 2023. Also, its Bachelor of Elementary Education owned the title of Top 8 Performing School with an overall performance rating of 90.77 percent in the recent board examination results for September 2024. Arasof-Nasugbu is dedicated to community engagement and development, promoting initiatives that improve local welfare. The university has invested in infrastructure, such as a new Student Services Center, aligning with its mission to provide world-class education and produce skilled professionals for society.
-END-
SOURCE: The Manila Times
The blame game is on! President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said it: The K-12 has failed. Vice President Sara Duterte said it, too, when she presented the Basic Education Report 2023 in the presence of the President. State of the Nation Addresses have reverberated the problems in the halls of Congress and the nation. International reports of our learners’ performance have slapped our faces many times in front of the global audience. Now, some senators are singing in unison this same conclusion. And expect more noise about this as a campaign issue as we feel the 2028 election fever.
And it took us 12 long years to realize the failure of this education system since it was signed into law as Republic Act (RA) 10533 on May 15, 2013? After millions — 27 million in 2025 — of Filipino children and their families, year after year, entrusted their future to their government? And after spending billions in resources?
We don’t need political grandstanding for this conclusion. The best orchestra that plays the dirges and elegy over dying, if not dead, Philippine education is that of the Education Commission 2 (EdCom 2), which lapsed into law in July 2022, and which published reports “Miseducation: the Failed System of Philippine Education” in 2024, and “Fixing the Foundations: A Matter of National Survival” in 2025. Both reports present a comprehensive, evidence-based narrative derived from exhaustive data from almost all stakeholders of Philippine education. It has everything we need to know.
Again, we don’t need political grandstanding for this conclusion. This column has written several articles citing various problems and solutions.
We need solutions, execution and collaboration, which are all spelled out in the EdCom 2 reports. Political statements may want to mouth out the brains culled from these reports, not motherhood statements that may instill bandwagon effect of stupid generalizations capitalizing on the sentiments of the general public which is disappointed and angry over their frustrations.
Serious about solving education problems? Here are some commonsensical ideas that can solve the problem, and we don’t need a genius to agree.
Fix the educational systems and leave it to educated educators — not politicians. Harmonize and align the trifocalized system — Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Technical Education Skills Development Authority alongside other agencies related to it. They must talk! Provide for appropriate budgets — highest for education that is insulated from corruption.
Ensure classrooms and other educational infrastructures that will promote learning and capitalize on learning technology. Make classrooms accessible, safe and conducive to learning.
Pay public and private teachers well to inspire and enable them to do their teaching jobs. Shield from political favors the ranking, hiring and promotion processes of teachers and school leaders. Ensure their training and lifelong learning. Teachers should only teach their specialized areas of expertise. Hire enough teachers to ensure an ideal teacher-learner ratio. Revisit and align teacher education curriculum and board examination.
Feed the children and curb malnutrition from early childhood because it is nearly impossible to teach a hungry child with an underdeveloped brain. Strengthen the early childhood education and development so that they have literacy and numeracy as school entrants. Engage parents! Make available textbooks and educational resources and technology that can optimize their learning.
Consult the world of work and engage the industry for the competencies that they need for present and future jobs, and design the curriculum toward that. Go back to the basics of what is needed by the learned with the end-in-mind of the jobs that await them in the world of work. Government should foresee competencies needed by jobs and business in the future.
Create a village that will raise a Filipino child.
A nest of excellence
This section is the fourth in a series of features of higher education institutions that deserve the spotlight for their remarkable achievements.
Over 50 years ago, the Philippine Institute of Fisheries Technology was established in Nasugbu, Batangas, (RA 685) through Rep. Apolinario Reyes Apacible and Director Deogracias Valladolid. Founded on May 9, 1952, it began operations in 1957 as the Batangas School of Fisheries — a two-story building on land donated by Roxas y Cia. The school offered a secondary fishery curriculum.
In 1972, it introduced a two-and-a-half-year Diploma in Fishery Technology, then a four-year Bachelor of Science in Fishery Education in 1975 and 1978. Renamed the Apolinario R. Apacible School of Fisheries (Arasof) in 1981, it expanded to offer elementary education and short-term courses. Significant changes came in 1994 when Arasof fell under the CHED, leading to new degree programs, including Bachelor of Science in Food Technology, Hotel and Restaurant Management, and Education by 1996, and Information Management and Technology by 1997.
On Feb. 25, 2000, the board of trustees of the Pablo Borbon Memorial Institute of Technology made a significant decision to integrate Arasof and several other colleges. This strategic move culminated in the establishment of the Batangas State University on March 22, 2001, (RA 9045).
Today, this institution is officially known as Batangas State University-The National Engineering University. The Arasof-Nasugbu Campus is a thriving hub of education, serving a diverse student population of over 7,300 individuals across six colleges and a laboratory school. The campus is particularly celebrated for its impressive pass rates on various licensure exams, a testament to the quality of education offered. It has garnered distinguished accreditations, notably becoming the first state university in the Philippines to achieve ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accreditation for its engineering programs. In addition to engineering, the university has extended its commitment to excellence by securing Aaccup (Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines) Level II accreditation for its nursing, and nutrition and dietetics programs. The Information Technology program has achieved Aaccup Level III phase 2 status, while College of Teacher Education in BEEd program retained its Aaccup Level III phase 2 status and BSEd programs achieved Aaccup Level IV phase 2 status.
These accomplishments reflect the institution’s unwavering dedication to maintaining high educational standards. The College of Teacher Education at Batangas State University has earned recognition as a CHED Center of Development. Recently remarkable is the success of the College of Criminology, which recorded an impressive 95.74 percent pass rate in the February 2025 licensure exam, while the College of Teacher Education consistently graduates top performers, including Maria Kristel Turaray Bendicio, who ranked among the top 5 in the September 2023. Also, its Bachelor of Elementary Education owned the title of Top 8 Performing School with an overall performance rating of 90.77 percent in the recent board examination results for September 2024. Arasof-Nasugbu is dedicated to community engagement and development, promoting initiatives that improve local welfare. The university has invested in infrastructure, such as a new Student Services Center, aligning with its mission to provide world-class education and produce skilled professionals for society.
-END-
SOURCE: The Manila Times