THE STUDENT Council Alliance of the Philippines called on the Marcos administration to appoint a better education secretary who will heed and prioritize the needs of the Filipino students burdened by the education crisis.

“Her resignation is also a great manifestation of the widening cracks between the fragile Marcos-Duterte relationship that has left the education sector stuck in a cycle of crisis,” SCAP said in a statement.

“This petty squabble has been at the expense of quality and accessible education for the Filipino youth,” the group added.

The group cited a global study from the Programme for International Student Assessment which shows that Filipino students ranked among the lowest in creative thinking. The same study conducted in recent years showed that 90 percent of Filipino children and youth can’t understand what they are reading.

“We need an education secretary who will get the Philippine education system out of the rut. Sara Duterte’s legacy is spending millions of confidential funds, engaging in public feuds with elected officials, and defending accused child abusers instead of saving a generation of children from illiteracy,” the group said.

“With Sara Duterte out of the way in the education sector, this administration should drop the Mandatory ROTC and solve the education crisis by increasing the budget for the education sector, improving the quality of our curriculum, and upholding and ensuring students’ and teachers’ rights in schools and campuses,” it added.