SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian stressed the need to formulate a national education agenda to help aid the country’s post-pandemic recovery while the government is expected to launch the Updated Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 which will have a strong focus on reversing damage to the education and labor sectors.

Gatchalian said the Covid19 induced community quarantine caused schools to remain closed and income levels to fall sharply due to unemployment.

The senator earlier filed Senate Bill 1526 or the National Education Council Act, which is anchored on national development plans such as establishing the country’s road map for improving education through institutionalized coordination and harmonization of policies on critical issues among the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Under the proposed measure, the NEDCO takes into account the real demand of the labor market and the needs of the industry, an integrated curriculum that will deliver the desired education goals, priorities, and outcomes, and a K to 12 graduates employment plan that ensures a job-skills match between senior high school graduates vis-a-vis the qualifications and needs of the government and the private sector.

Should the proposed measure become a law, Gatchalian said NEDCO’s most immediate task would be to craft a national education agenda that will reverse the pandemic’s damage and address the weaknesses that the health crisis aggravated, including the digital divide and the need to improve quality in education.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, more than 28 million learners from pre-primary to tertiary levels were affected by the Covid19 pandemic.

“Ang muling pagbangon ng sektor ng edukasyon ay nangangailangan ng isang matatag na planong pagbubuklurin ang DepEd, TESDA, at CHED sa pagpapatupad ng mga kinakailangang reporma,” said Gatchalian.

“Kung mananatiling kulang ang pakikipag-ugnayan sa pagitan ng tatlong ahensiyang ito, hindi natin mabibigyan ng sapat na pagtututok ang mga hamon sa edukasyon na kailangan nating tugunan,” added the chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture.