MANILA — There is still an education crisis in the country and officials need to resolve the issues urgently, experts said Thursday.

Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) President Dr. Aniceto Orbeta Jr. said at a joint meeting of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) and the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) in Taguig that the Department of Education must conduct comprehensive studies and collect data on why the country's education is performing not as well as other countries.

He said the data can be used to assess and create appropriate solutions.

"We need data to tell us what really works and what will work fast. We need solutions fast," Orbeta said.

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He said the Philippines does not have a problem with either attendance or number of students enrolled, but rather with the quality of education.

He said many older students do not even know how to read.

He said that there are even few Philippine universities on the list of best schools globally.

He asked, "How did these students pass the grade without learning to read, for instance? There is a problem somehow."

Rep. Mark Go, chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, agreed, saying more must be done to address the education problem in the Philippines.

Among the measures mentioned is support for teacher training — and also to not forget the private schools.

"Major bulk of the budget of our country is allocated for basic education, primarily for public education. And because of this there's so many public schools during the last so many months or probably last 2 years, that have closed," said Go.

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Orbeta added that private schools have performed well in test assessments and government may tap them by providing more vouchers or scholarships.

With vouchers, students may opt to study in a private school.

"Test scores are telling us private schools are performing better. That means kung ako gobyerno dapat sila i-finance ko," Orbeta said.

Both speakers said it will be hard to solve the education problem overnight, but all sectors must work together to improve the quality of education.

The Department of Education has said that it allotted in the budget improvements in the education system by building more classrooms and hiring teachers.

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