THE BUSINESS community is supportive of Congress’ plan to convene an Education Commission to address the problems besetting the sector, the Philippine Business for Education said.

A number of resolutions that seek to create the commission have been filed in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“We are enthusiastic that our legislators have continually supported the education sector. We hope that congressional hearings will be held on the EdCom resolutions as soon as possible so that we can set up an EdCom that meets the needs of our education system,” PBEd Executive Director Love Basillote said.

PBEd revealed that business groups have expressed the urgency of addressing the learning crisis.They believe that an EdCom is critical in tackling problems of the education sector.

In March 2021, PBEd held a joint membership meeting with the Makati Business Club, Management Association of the Philippines, Employers Confederation of the Philippines, and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. During the meeting, over 250 business leaders expressed interest in and support of convening a government-led, multisectoral EdCom.

“We believe that convening the EdCom now is an immediate response to the learning crisis. We understand that we can only overcome the crisis when we work together with Congress. For example, because of our collective efforts, teachers have been moved up the Covid vaccine priority list. We need the same kind of energy to move bigger reforms,” Basillote said.

The private sector also backs the convening of the EdCom and pledged to share expertise on education financing, decentralization, public-private education complementarity, assessments, digital transformation of education for equity, and industry-academe linkages in standards, training, and employment.