AN OFFICIAL of the Department of Education admitted that the passing rate in the Licensure Examination for Teachers was low because education students “are not the best and the brightest.”

DepEd Teacher Education Council Executive Director Runvi Manguerra made the observation in a recent Senate hearing led by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.

Manguerra said that the country has very few centers of excellence and development.

“We keep on saying that we have to recruit the best and the brightest among our senior high school students but record shows that those who are attracted to the Teacher Education Institutions are not the best and the brightest,” he told the senators.

In the hearing, he proposed the establishment of an organization that will help develop students for the teaching profession as early as senior high school.

However, Manguerra said he has yet to discuss the proposal with the Commission on Higher Education.

He also stressed the need to establish more centers of excellence and development in higher education institutions.