SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian believes that planned reforms in education will address the crisis hounding the sector.

He issued the statement following the announcement of Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva that the Second Congressolional Commission on Education has formally convened.

As chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Gatchalian is the co-chairperson of EDCOM II.

“Isang mahalagang hakbang sa pagtaas ng kalidad ng edukasyon ang pagtupad ng EDCOM II sa mandato nito. Kasunod ng pagsuri natin sa tunay na lagay ng sistema ng edukasyon, isusulong natin ang mga reporma upang tuldukan ang hinaharap nating krisis sa sektor,” he said.

EDCOM II was created under Republic Act 11899 to undertake a comprehensive national assessment of the education sector’s performance.

The commission will propose transformative, concrete and targeted reforms to boost the Philippines’ global competitiveness in the education and labor markets.

It will review how mandates were observed under the laws that created the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

The commission will then make recommendations on improving the harmonization of policies between the three agencies.

Following the 1991 report of the first EDCOM, the country’s education system was broken up into three subsectors to improve governance.

The national assessment will also determine factors that contributed to the continuing failure in performance on identified subject areas to meet desired international and local standards.