National education council creation sought

A lawmaker on Sunday is pushing for the establishment of the National Education Council (NEDCO) which is seen to improve and develop the country’s education agenda and a more cohesive and long-term vision in the Philippine learning system.

Senator Win Gatchalian stressed that the creation of the council can strengthen coordination and collaboration among the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

The senator — who also chairs the Committee on Education, filed the Senate Bill 2017, seeking to harmonize efforts on improving learners’ performances as it mandates the NEDCO to institutionalize a system of national coordination in the planning, monitoring, evaluation, implementation, and management of the national education agenda to ensure coherent strategic direction by the DepEd, CHEd and TESDA.

Under the proposed measure, the NEDCO aims to prevent possible overlaps, gaps, and inconsistencies that may result from the non-alignment of policies, plans and programs in the education system.

The council’s other functions include the implementation of an action agenda to help the country succeed in education as measured by the National Achievement Test, Programme for International Student Assessment, Education Index, Education for All Development Index, and other indices and measures.

Gatchalian lamented that the country’s education system has not delivered the outcomes it sought under “tri-focalization” initiatives, despite the creation of the National Coordinating Council for Education (NCCE) under Executive Order 273 s. 2000 and and the Presidential Task Force to Assess, Plan, and Monitor the Entire Educational System under EO 652 s. 2007.

He recalled the recommendation of the 1991 Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM) on splitting the education bureaucracy and the tri-focalization of the country’s education system.

The 1991 EDCOM also proposed the creation of a national council on education to ensure coherence between the policies of the three education sub-sectors.