THE Senate Committees on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education, and Finance have approved the measure institutionalizing the expanded tertiary education equivalency and accreditation program.

The Committees have endorsed for plenary discussion Senate Bill 2568 or the proposed Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program.

This is a substitute bill to the Senate Bill 1908 filed by Senator Mark Villar.

Villar, in filing for the measure, stressed that living below the poverty line normally causes students to surrender their dream careers and immediately seek jobs to help with family expenses.

The senator explained that the program is an alternative education program in the Philippines that allows working professionals, who were either unable to finish their college education or were completely unable to step into college for different reasons, to earn a bachelor’s degree without going through traditional schooling methods.

Under the program, work experience is evaluated and converted to creditable educational units to reduce the number of subjects that a working professional has to earn to obtain a degree.

The senator said with the program, only the remaining courses or subjects that did not have any equivalent in the evaluation process would be enrolled and should be completed traditionally.

The bill seeks to institutionalize ETEEAP as an integral part of the educational system in the Philippines.

Through the bill, the existing ETEEAP shall be strengthened and the criteria for basic qualifications thereof shall be laid down by the law to make it more accessible to Filipinos who want to earn a degree while working.

The measure mandates the creation of a consultative body headed by the Commission on Higher Education to provide broad-based inter-agency consultation to ascertain that the objective and reach of this program are being met by the government.