DepEd needs private sector support to implement education reforms

June 1, 2012 - PRLog -- Seeking greater opportunities for education, the Department of Education (DepEd)’s newly launched basic education reform program called “GO Education!” will only be successful if the private sector helps out.

DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro, Jr. said in a recent interview that private sector support is key to achieving his department’s reform agenda through GO Education, which aims to solve the triad of problems in the country’s public education system, namely, People, Resources and Curriculum. The People problem refers to the lack of qualified teaching personnel, as well as training for teachers. The Resources problem refers to the shortage in school facilities like classrooms, chairs and clean comfort rooms, while the Curriculum problem is about having the right content to help graduates meet DepEd’s as well as global standards.

Notably, GO Education’s flagship initiative is the K to 12 program that introduces kindergarten and junior and senior high school in the Philippine education system with the goal of enhancing the current curriculum by decongesting it and aligning it with international practice.

Said Luistro, “We seek support from all stakeholders in Philippine education, especially the business sector, to help us in our continuing efforts to address the needs of the country’s basic education system within the next four years.”  

The Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) and the Philippine Business Schools for Social Progress (PBSP) are two major groups that have heeded DepEd’s call for support in solving the country’s problems in education. PBEd has been implementing initiatives to encourage the brightest graduates to go into the teaching profession through its “1,000 Teachers” scholarship campaign. On the other hand, PBSP has an ongoing program dubbed “TEN Moves” that aims to come up with 10,000 classrooms this year to help solve the shortage in school facilities.

Said Luistro, “GO Education goes beyond K to 12. It aims to solve the perennial problems in Philippine education. For this, we will need the support of everyone.”