DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 9 January) – The Philippines is facing a “terrible” learning crisis that must be addressed immediately as the country continues to fare poorly in international-scale assessments, new Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) President Fr. Karel S. San Juan said.
San Juan told reporters during a press conference on Monday that the government, however, has responded to the crisis well with the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) that evaluates and assesses the country’s education sector, including, among others, the “structures, policies, and practices.”
Based on the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment released in December 2023, the country ranked third-lowest in science and sixth-lowest in both mathematics and reading.
San Juan noted the AdDU will play a role in addressing the gaps by collaborating with educational associations to ensure that the national government will prioritize learning, “so that Filipino school children will not find themselves at the bottom of the scale.”
“AdDU has good leaders in education and we will play a role with educational associations. We cannot do it alone. We are part of the Davao and national level educational associations,” he said.
He said the EDCOM 2, which is composed of some members of Congress and leaders in the education sector, has been conducting consultations in different areas across the country in the hopes of addressing the learning crisis and improving the quality of education.
San Juan believed that EDCOM 2 offers a “holistic whole of nation approach to address the learning crisis.”
“The quality of education is really dependent on the quality of our teachers. How do we train teachers proficiently to do their teaching work? That’s being evaluated. On budget, are we allocating enough for education vis-a-vis the national budget or not enough?” he said.
He said that there is also a need to address hunger and poverty as they affect the capacity of the school children to learn.
“Hunger among our many school children is the cause of malnutrition and the delay in learning. That affects their capacity to learn. We have to address the problem of hunger and nutrition, and we have to address the problem of poverty in the communities,” he said.
San Juan was officially installed as the fifth president of AdDU on Monday, bringing his “rich background in academics, Jesuit vocation, service, and university leadership.”
Previously, he served as president of Ateneo de Zamboanga University for nine years since 2013, and a trustee of AdDU, Ateneo de Manila University, and Xavier University.
The 58-year-old prelate, who was born in Marikina on June 16, 1965, earned his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, cum laude and valedictorian, from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1986, Masters in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management in Makati in 1993, and Doctorate in Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, USA, in May 2007. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
