Playing with Fire
A new tack for education
By Gonzalo Duque
FOR sometime now, we have been seeing a lot of improvements in our educational system, thanks to the present leadership.
Well, the political opposition will always shoot down many of the good things — growths, feats, innovations and reforms — undertaken by the government, but nothing can be farther from the truth: minus the negative rhetoric, the country is moving … and moving forward, let’s give it a chance.
It is specially rewarding as well as challenging to join Commission on Higher Education chairman Emmanuel “Manny” Angeles direct the program and future of Philippine education. His adequate training as chairman and president for many years of the Angeles University Foundation in Pampanga and member of the Philippine education advisory have sharpened and enriched his grasp and understanding of what ails the system.
We are happy to inform you that after our exciting tenure as president of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU), we were tapped by Chairman Manny to be a consultant with a P14,000-a-month honorarium. Ok lang yon, because what matters is the opportunity of service that we can do for our youth — how to contribute in their development as future leaders of the nation.
At this juncture, a most challenging issue that we have participated in was the need to strengthen the base, the foundation of education of our students starting from the grade school. It is a fact of life in the education sector anywhere in the world that our system is flawed from the very beginning.
Except for a country in Africa which has a weak primary or basic education like ours, all developed countries led by the United States, Japan and the rest have a strong education base, where primary and secondary education is completed in 15 years, whereas it’s only 14 years in this beleaguered country. Maraming parents ang aangal kung dadagdagan ng isan pang taon ang elementary or high school, but they should be told that the culprit (involving our ill-prepared college graduates) is the utter lack of foundation. It has taken our education leaders long hours and several days, weeks and months to arrive at a decision on this.
Congratulate them — our education officials — for finally sealing the coffin of our anemic educational system. We shall soon have 15 years for basic education. That’s a well thought-out option, and if you’d allow, it’s our ticket to a strong republic.
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You must have heard or read the good news, our Lyceum Northwestern University has done it again, this time, with great feeling.
Why? Two of our nursing graduates landed in the top ten. Yes, they were in the tenth berth.
The feat is significant because this year, nothing has been heard about any leakage or something. Talagang nag top kami, period. We are proud of it. Why not? Ang galing ata namin! ahem… ahem…
Also, our Pharmacy Department has been rated by the Professional Regulation Commission as the Best Performing School because we are Number 2 today among those with high achievements. It has been a tradition in this department. Last year, we were Number 3. So you see, at LNU, there is policy, nay a commitment for excellence. Taga probinsiya nga tayo, but we always try to be among the top nationally. And we often are able to make it, see? As they say, if there’s a will there’s a way.
If you recall, we always say, “Hard work and team work will work.”
Of course, we don’t forget to say thank you very much for your support and prayers.
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