A COALITION of education groups reiterated its support for the candidacies of Vice President Leni Robredo and Sen. Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan.

The coalition includes Angat Buhay-Edukasyon, Teachers for Leni and Kiko, and the 180,000-member strong Alliance of Concerned Teachers. It endorsed 10 senatorial bets — Teddy Baguilat, Neri Colmenares, Leila de Lima, Chel Diokno, Dick Gordon, Risa Hontiveros, Elmer Labog, Alex Lacson, Sonny Matula, and Sonny Trillanes — and the ACT Teachers Party-list.

The members of the coalition presented a giant educators’ ballot and shaded their bets using giant crayons that bore their calls. They highlighted five points in an education covenant adopted by the different groups in the coalition: equitable access to education, teacher welfare, post-pandemic education recovery, responsive curriculum, and inclusive education.

ABE lead convenor and Ateneo de Manila University associate professor Gary Devilles said that the endorsed candidates were chosen based on the similarities of their platforms with the coalition’s education covenant.

ABE is composed of 600 faculty, non-teaching personnel, workers, and education students from universities both private and public. It had earlier pledged one million votes for the Leni-Kiko tandem in an event that featured National Artist Virgilio Almario.

Raymond Basilio, ACT secretary-general, explained the importance of a united voice among teachers and education personnel due to the numerous problems that plague our schools and need to be addressed by the incoming administration. These problems include the perennial lack of state funding, overworked and underpaid faculty, and the inadequacy of plans that will allow schools to safely resume on-site operations amid the pandemic, among others.