THE DEPARTMENT of Education and the Second Congressional Commission on Education discussed priority areas and issues that need to be resolved to address the education crisis in the country.

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte welcomed suggestions from EDCOM II commissioners and the Advisory Council that push for a transformative, concrete and targeted reforms to further improve the current education system.

“In order to ensure quality, accessible, relevant, and liberating basic education for our learners, we need to strengthen and sustain our collective efforts as a nation. We still have a long way to go. We need to be resilient. We need to do more,” Duterte said.

Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, co-chairperson of the EDCOM II, highlighted the priority areas of EDCOM II that include Early Childhood Care and Development, basic education, teacher education and development and governance and finance.\

“Through EDCOM II, we look forward to working with DepEd in transforming the Philippine basic education system. DepEd and EDCOM II can leverage their respective strengths and expertise to improve our country’s quality of education. Together, we can fulfill our vision of providing quality education to every Filipino learner,” Gatchalian said.

To address the problems highlighted by EDCOM II, the education department provided plans and directions including the launch of the National Education Portal, a recalibrated National Learning Recovery Plan, and the holding of the National Learning Camp.

It presented updates on the expansion of the GASTPE coverage, the creation of the Government Assistance and Subsidies Office, the conduct of a tracer study of Alternative Learning System learners and ongoing consultations for the National Mental Health Program.

The DepEd and EDCOM II also sealed their Data Sharing Agreement through a Memorandum of Agreement.

Established by virtue of Republic Act 11899, EDCOM II is mandated to undertake a comprehensive national assessment and evaluation of the performance of the Philippine education sector from 2023 to 2025.