Education will be Duterte administration's most important legacy: CHED Chair

LONDON – Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Prospero De Vera has said adult education will be promoted under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, as this would be his greatest legacy.

In an interview with ABS-CBN Europe at the annual global summit for education ministers in London, De Vera said Duterte has increased the funding for higher education at all levels that no administration has done in the past.

De Vera discussed ‘lifelong learning and life wide learning,’ in one of the key sessions in the summit alongside Germany Education Minister Alexander Lorz, Mexico Secretary of Education Esteban Barragan and Qatar Foundation Chair Sheika Hind Al Thani.

He explained that some private universities like Ateneo de Davao and Miriam College were spearheading the adult education initiative by offering weekend classes ranging from vocational ones like baking and cooking to business classes such as investing in the stock market.

With the Universal Access to Quality Education Law, which has funded the education of some 1.3 million students in public universities and more than 1,000 students in private universities, De Vera believes education will be the lasting legacy of the Duterte administration with the quality of the country's human resource dramatically improving because of better education.

“Ten, 15 years from now, RA 10931 (the free tuition law) will be the most important legacy of the Duterte administration. That’s the most important investment because we will have a population that is more educated, better trained and highly employable, that will be beyond our time already,” said De Vera.

Meanwhile, he encouraged students who failed to get into state universities to try open distance learning at the undergraduate level, which is one of his priority projects for 2019.

“For those who are applying to public universities but (were not) able to make the cut off because so many applied, we are going to make a new pathway for them to go to open distance learning,” De Vera said.

He added: “Some public universities are already implementing it but we want UP (University of the Philippines) Open University to take the lead.”

With some 1,200 participants from 95 countries under one roof, the 4-day Education World Forum 2019 was an opportune time for education officials from around the world to establish links.

Qatar, for example, has signified interest in building linkages with Philippine universities.

“I intend to follow it up within the year. There are so many Filipinos in the Middle East but we do not have educational linkages with universities in the area. So it’s not only a great opportunity for Filipinos not only to have access to quality education in the universities there but to see the potential of Philippine universities to deliver services in the Middle East,” said De Vera.

The education world forum is an annual global summit of education ministers aimed at looking into trends shaping education and in order to improve policy–making and strategies for learning.