ON SONA 2024: Overstating the Education Sector

In his third State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. extolled the recent progression of the education sector and provided data on prevailing issues. Yet, as much as these narratives and figures show a balance of the sector's vitality and downfalls, Marcos failed to cover significant struggles within. It obscures the more entrenched dilemma that constantly afflicts the sector and its stakeholders. With the recent trends and issues lurking around the education system in the country, it is surely a long way to go. Marcos must keep his words marked and assure that the address is comprehensive and realistic enough as well as his plans. 

In the address, Marcos detailed issues and his visions on the sector, mainly the education performance and the system, plight of the teachers, advancements in higher education and other programs like TVET, and the integration of technology and digital spaces for the system. Reviewing the transcript of the speech, SONA 2024 lacks significant challenges within the education system such as the threats of campus militarization, persistent red tagging of activists, and media censorship. Albeit the President attempted to share a problem-solution approach to address both the dilemmas and his visions, the address sounded like a platform of his rhetorical assurances. 

Marcos concentrated on education highlighting the administration’s prioritization of the education system. Looking at the Department of Budget and Management’s Agenda for Prosperity and proposed budget for the fiscal year 2024, it is true that the education sector was one of the top priorities with a budget allotment of P895.2 billion for the fiscal year 2023 and 924.7 billion for the fiscal year 2024. 

On the aspect of prioritization, Marcos must take note that Filipinos do not owe him or his administration of this as the constitution mandates the need to allot highest budget prioritization for education. Marcos mentioned the integration of Technical-Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the Senior High School curriculum to enhance employability. The problem with the recognition is it does not complement the other sector as it needs to. For instance, the budget for Labor and Employment is at the least with only Php. 40.5 billion. Marcos must realign these perspectives and check on the linkages of the sectors to ensure continuity in both panels of education and employment as one supplements the other. 

Furthermore, Marcos noted in his speech the recalibration of the education system and urgent fulfillment of the national learning recovery program. This response comes in light of recent trends indicating that the Philippines ranked poorly in the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA). In PISA 2022, Philippines exhibited a lagging in terms of math, science, and reading. On the most recent PISA trends, it is on the aspect of creative thinking that the country lacks. 

In 2023, Marcos flagged five major envisioned maneuvers for the education system. He even discussed the education system recalibration in his previous SONA in particular. According to VERA files, the five promises of Marcos for the education sector were recalibration of K-12 curriculum, provision of educational options for out-of-school youth, retainment of the free tertiary education for the state universities and colleges, support for the Balik-Scientist program and expansion on medical and nursing education program. Among these promises, only one was fulfilled which was the review and recalibration of the curriculum. The MATATAG curriculum was the result of the K-12 review which reduced the number of learning competencies from seven to five. According to the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), the MATATAG curriculum was found to be well-accepted by the stakeholders and improved teachers’ instruction. Other than this, the other promises of Marcos from his previous address were in progress. 

On higher education, Marcos also touted the inclusion of the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in global ranking. As much as these things are deemed to be necessary for an applause, the president would have gone in-depth with the scale of these rankings and how these reflect the hunger of the system to reach global standards rather than assessing those realistic problems occuring in the country. There are loopholes in relying solely with these rankings as indicators of development as it focuses more on certain concentrations and compromises institutional trajectories in determining priorities such as research over teaching methods of universities. It is also necessary to view the rankings comprehensively as on the actual global ranks, the performance of universities are lagging and the recent trend suggests that it falls behind among the listed institutions around the globe. From here, the misleading should be corrected in a way that inclusion in such rankings does not give the total solution for emerging challenges in the sector. It can be a basis for certain aspects but not for the complex systems we have. 

Additionally, Marcos also shared points about opportunities such as fostering innovation and technological advancements. Some of these are the Filipinnovation and Malikhaing Pinoy programs which are aimed to be integrated through a shared collective maneuver involving various sectors such as the Information Technology (IT) industry as drivers and the education sector as incubators. A point lacking in these aspects would be the challenge of digital divide among schools, cybersecurity particularly on the issue of government agencies facing data breach, and the concrete measures to ensure that these are achieved accordingly based on the capability of the sector.  Opportunities through research and development  grants including scholarships were also stated in the SONA. However, in the context of scholarship, the field of humanities should also be given substantive attention as opportunities are more concentrated in science and technology. This could ensure inclusivity and equal changes for the education sector, the opportunities and better living conditions. 

A significant point that was also lacking in the speech was an evaluation of the leadership of the recently resigned Department of Education (DepEd) secretary and current Vice President Sara Duterte. It is blatant that the incompetency exhibited by the former DepEd secretary pulled the sector downwards and caused impediment in the fulfillment of targets. If recalibrated, Duterte's time in the department was plagued by her irresponsible remarks of red tagging, mainly against the Alliance for Concerned Teachers (ACT). Under this issue stems the shortcomings of Marcos in the address about the two major issues: the lack of evaluation pointers on the institutional leaderships such as of Duterte with the DepEd and the threats of red tagging. 

However, Marcos challenged the new DepEd secretary Sonny Angara to focus on the betterment of the sector through focusing on employability through equipping the students with a well-structured curriculum and system. Here we see Marcos on his optimistic side rather than a critic of his measures and administration. As much as there are a lot of hopes with Angara’s appointment as secretary. Marcos failed to recognize the infectivity of the previous DepEd secretary. Vice President Sara Duterte trailed the system with a lot of compounding issues such as her controversial confidential funds. 

Marcos also discussed the teacher quality in his address, citing the vision of fulfillment of long standing campaigns such as the teaching allowance under the Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act, provision of Personal Accident Insurance from GSIS, and a Special Hardship Allowance which eradicates the issue of “utang-tagging.” Despite these concerns with the teachers, the ACT responded to Marcos address and gave the president a failing mark as they found the address “inadequate” and “lacking of concrete plans for the country.” Although Marcos had a space to address this matter regarding teachers’ role in ensuring a strong educational paradigm, it is best to surface the plans and hear the call of the teachers’ population, especially on salary. It is also a good maneuver if Marcos should have rolled out plans regarding increased academic freedom within the academe and recognition of academic pursuits as part of the solution building of the sector. Some of the concretes of these are the continuous research work and educational policy design. A close dialogue with stakeholders would also be a good measure to consider as it will encourage more democratic spaces for teachers to be involved in addressing the education crisis faced in the country. 

All in all, there are a lot of things to work on in the education sector. It is better if Marcos tried to delve more into the pressing issues of the sector under his administration. While there has been a recognition of progress, it was not comprehensive enough. There are other pertinent matters that should have been captivated in the long speech. It is better if Marcos went beyond his rhetorical assurances and omitted overstatements. Given this, the imperative to clamor these issues must be surfaced at the top to remind the people and the president of the other dimensions left forsaken and forgotten.