SEAMEC PRESIDENT POSES CHALLENGE OF EXPANDING IMPACT

SEAMEO Council President and Philippine Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro posed a challenge to INNOTECH to identify which of its flagship projects could be upscaled and sustained for maximum impact in helping address critical problems besetting the country’s education sector.

Secretary Luistro visited SEAMEO INNOTECH last November 16 for a briefing on Center operations, with Center Director Dr. Ramon C. Bacani providing a report on the Center’s programs and projects. The Secretary said the Center’s accomplishments in the last fiscal year “seem to speak of a thousand and one solutions” that could prove useful in dealing with many of the Department’s problems. He cited the urgent need for an information system that can channel real-time feedback from the field to hasten decision-making at the central level while ensuring transparent processes.

The Philippine Department of Education leads in implementing the present administration’s ten-point education agenda that includes the 12-year basic education cycle, universal pre-schooling, madrasah education, technical- vocational education, grade-appropriate reading mastery, science and math proficiency, assistance to private schools, rationalization of the medium of instruction, improving the quality of textbooks, and partnership with local government units to build more schools. Its reform programs are meant to help the Philippines deliver on its commitments to Education For All goals and Millennium Development Goals in about five years’ time.