THE SENATE  and the House of Representatives have jointly passed a Concurrent Resolution urging President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to establish a Cabinet Cluster for Education.

The proposed education cluster, advocated by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), aims to address long-standing issues identified in the Commission’s Year 1 and Year 2 Reports. These include functional illiteracy, lack of access to quality early childhood education, the mismatch between graduate skills and industry needs, and significant gaps in teacher development.

EDCOM 2 Co-Chairpersons Senator Sherwin Gatchalian and Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo pushed for the adoption of the resolution in both chambers during the 19th Congress. The move resulted in a landmark consensus recognizing the importance of institutionalizing coordination among education agencies to tackle the country’s learning crisis.

A key finding from EDCOM 2’s Year One Report, Miseducation: The Failed System of Philippine Education, revealed that since the trifocalization of the education sector in the 1990s—which split the former Department of Education, Culture and Sports into the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)—more than 100 inter-agency bodies have been created to address coordination problems, with limited success.

“Most of the issues reported by EDCOM 2—functional literacy crisis, challenges in senior high school, job-skills mismatch, and gaps in teacher specialization—stem from a lack of coordination among the various education departments,” Romulo said.

“The Cabinet Cluster for Education will serve as a vital platform for these agencies to collaborate more closely, ensuring aligned efforts and unified direction under the leadership and guidance of the President,” he added.

The call for the cluster builds on President Marcos’s directive from August 2024 for education agencies to craft a comprehensive 10-year education and workforce development strategy. The creation of a Cabinet-level cluster is seen as the critical next step to ensure the effective implementation of that strategy.

“The creation of the cluster is a necessary and long-overdue step to address the fragmented governance that has hampered real progress,” said EDCOM 2 Commissioner Rep. Pablo John Garcia.

“With the persistent job-skills mismatch, underwhelming outcomes in senior high school, and the learning crisis revealed by EDCOM 2, a high-level, coordinated approach is crucial to help our students. This cluster will provide the strategic direction and coherence needed to ensure that every Filipino learner—whether bound for college or the workforce—is equipped with the right skills, knowledge, and opportunities to succeed,” he added.

The initiative has received widespread support from key government agencies, education stakeholders, and experts who back the call for enhanced alignment within the education sector and strategic resource allocation toward urgent national goals.