SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian wants the Senate to find ways on how to strengthen the complementary roles of public and private schools to achieve the country’s sustainable development goals in education.

The chairman of the Basic Education Committee cited the urgency of addressing challenges hounding the private education sector, some of which were exacerbated by the Covid19 pandemic and the economic downturn.

“Ang ating mga pribadong paaralan ay ating katuwang sa paghahatid ng dekalidad na edukasyon para sa ating mga kabataan. Dahil patuloy nilang hinaharap ang maraming mga hamon na lumala pa noong panahon ng pandemya, napapanahong pag-aralan natin kung paano sila makakabangon muli,” Gatchalian said.

In Senate Resolution No. 12, Gatchalian cited the need to formulate a dynamic and responsive framework to further operationalize the principle of complementarity between public and private institutions to establish an integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people.

He also pointed to the challenges in implementing Republic Act 6728, as amended, or the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education, which enabled the use of public-private partnership in education through various forms of assistance to students and teachers.

These assistance were expanded under Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, also known as the K to 12 law.