SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday said that one of the challenges the 2nd Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) will have to address is how to help dropouts return to school.
Gatchalian expressed this concern after data from the Department of Education (DepEd) and analysis by his office showed that out of 100 learners who entered Grade 1 in schoolyear 2010-2011, only 60 went to Grade 10 and only 58 completed junior high school.
“The challenge for us is how do we save the 40 percent that disappeared by Grade 10. This is something for us to think about because I think we should focus on how to keep kids from Grades 1 to Grade 10. So, that’s a problem that we need to look at EDCOM 2,” said Gatchalian, one of the four co-chairpersons of EDCOM 2.
EDCOM 2 was created by virtue of RA 11899 which was passed into law in July 2022. It is mandated to conduct a “comprehensive national assessment and evaluation of the performance of the Philippine education sector for the purpose of recommending transformative, concrete, and targeted reforms in the sector with the end in view of making the Philippines globally competitive in both education and labor markets” from 2023 to 2025.
EDCOM 2 followed the footsteps of the First Congressional Commission on Education which was established by a Joint Resolution of the 8th Congress on June 17, 1990.
Aside from Gatchalian, EDCOM 2 has for its co-chairpersons Sen. Francis Escudero and Reps. Roman Romulo and Mark Go. They are ex-officio members in all standing EDCOM 2 committees, including Early Childhood Education and Development and Basic Education, Higher Education and Teacher Education and Development, Technical Vocational Education and Training and Lifelong Learning, and Governance and Finance.
Gatchalian said “lack of interest” among the youth aged 12 to 17 was the top reason for non-attendance in school. Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) 2019 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey, 41.9 percent of youth aged 12 to 15 and 28.3 percent of those aged 16 to 17 identified lack of interest as the reason for not attending school.
Insufficient family income was the second reason, with 14.4 percent of the youth aged 12 to 15 and 15.4 percent aged 16 to 17 not attending school.
Gatchalian, Senate Committee on Basic Education chairman, had earlier proposed in Senate Bill No. 1604 or the Academic Recovery Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program Act the creation of mass awareness campaigns to encourage learners to return and re-enroll in schools.
ARAL Program seeks the implementation of a national learning recovery program to address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s education system.
