SENATOR Pia Cayetano proposed the integration of soft skills lessons in all levels of education to address concerns that many Filipino graduates lack these skills.

The senator made the recommendation during the meeting between the Second Congressional Commission on Education and the Department of Education.

“How do we do this? I am not proposing a new subject, but I am proposing that it is integrated every step of the way,” Cayetano said.

The senator shared that among all Asian countries, chief executive officers found Filipino graduates very hardworking and very reliable, thus people skills such as communication, leadership, confidence, problem-solving and the ability to collaborate will help them greatly in their careers.

During the meeting, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte highlighted efforts of the administration in providing quality, accessible, relevant and resilient education for Filipino learners.

She acknowledged the move of EDCOM 2 commissioners in pushing for transformative, complete and targeted reforms to address the learning crisis and further improve the education system.

Meanwhile, EDCOM 2 co-chairperson Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian stressed the importance of employing a whole-of-government approach in addressing the challenges in providing quality education to learners.

Gatchalian said the two agencies can take advantage of their respective expertise to come up with concrete, targeted and transformative policies.

“Together, we can fulfill our vision of providing quality education for every Filipino learner,” he said.