SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday said urgent reforms in the country’s education system should immediately be put in place after a global report showed the Philippines is lagging behind in terms of learner skills and proficiency.
Gatchalian said Coursera’s 2023 Global Skills Report showed the Philippines ranked 99th out of 100 countries whose learners lack skills and proficiency in business, technology, and data science.
The country’s ranking fell by 29 spots, from 70th place out of 102 countries in 2022.
The report showed declining scores for the Philippines in terms of proficiency in business, technology, and data science.
The country’s business proficiency percentile rank fell from 62 percent in 2022 to 16 percent this year.
From 29 percent last year, technology proficiency in the country fell to 5 percent, while data science proficiency dropped from 21 percent to 1 percent.
The report draws skills insights for 100 countries from Coursera’s registered learner base of 124 million learners, 1.8 million of which are in the Philippines.
The report’s introduction clarified that its data surfaces trends among registered learners on Coursera and are not necessarily representative of a country’s population.
Sharing those insights, however, presents an opportunity to generate new, more granular insights and complement other, more traditional data sources on education, the report said.
Since the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) has begun its assessment of the country’s education sector, Gatchalian said the congressional body’s proposed reforms should boost Filipinos’ proficiencies in areas covered by the report, especially as more companies are now adopting new technologies to boost productivity.
While higher education institutions equip students with skills needed in the workplace, Gatchalian also emphasized that the senior high school program should deliver on its promise to ensure work readiness for its graduates.
The Batang Magaling Act (Senate Bill No. 2022), which Gatchalian filed, proposes the creation of the National and Local Batang Magaling Councils to strengthen the linkages and collaboration among the Department of Education (DepEd), local government units, academic communities, and industry partners.
