TO IMPROVE the harmonization of policies between the three education sub-sectors, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has refiled a bill that seeks to create the National Education Council.

Senate Bill 2017 or the National Education Council Act creates the NEDCO to institutionalize a system of national coordination, planning, monitoring, evaluation and management among the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

The measure seeks the formulation of a national education agenda, which shall be anchored on national development plans.

It shall establish, among others, the country’s strategic vision for education, long-term and medium-term goals, strategies for a coordinated and coherent implementation, and recommendations on the corresponding investments and appropriations.

The NEDCO’s powers and functions will include the implementation of an action agenda for the development of the country’s capacity for, and success in education as measured by indices and measures such as the National Achievement Test, Programme for International Student Assessment, Education Index, Education for All Development Index, and others it may deem appropriate in measuring growth and development of the education sector.

Gatchalian said that the 1991 Congressional Commission on Education recommended the creation of a coordinating body following the tri-focalization of the country’s education system.

“Sa pamamagitan ng ating panukalang bumuo ng National Council for Education, mapapaigting natin ang ugnayan sa iba’t ibang tanggapan ng pamahalaan upang maiangat ang kalidad ng edukasyon sa ating bansa,” said Gatchalian, head of the Senate Committee on Basic Education.