PHL must include S & T in curriculum to be competitive with other APEC member economies

The Philippines lags behind with some other countries in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of education, especially in areas of science and technology, and it hampers the country's growth potential, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary and SOM chair Laura Del Rosario.

At the conclusion of the APEC's First Senior Officials' Meeting in Clark Freeport Zone in Angeles City on Saturday (Feb. 7), Undersecretary Del Rosario said the country lacks education compared to South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

For instance in South Korea, its department of education is not doing its job alone. The Koreans have the Korean Ministry of Education and Science and Technology, KSST, Del Rosario said.

It's the same with Taiwan, she said, adding its education department is called Taiwan Ministry of Education and Science.

"For these countries, they focus more on science and technology in education because they realized that these enhance the students' way of thinking, especially in making scientific conclusions," she said.

In those countries, they based their thinking on science and technology, she noted. The interventions of Japan and South Korea are anchored in a discipline that is tied up with science and technology, she said.

"You can observe that when the Koreans connected their education to science and technology they were able to produce Samsung and LG, now they are fighting toe-to-toe with Apple and everybody else," Del Rosario said.

"I think that's our deficiency. If we could be able to reform our education system, make it more disciplined, and more engaging we will have another way of concluding at things."

Using science in policy making is also useful, she said. Del Rosario said that when they design and discuss a policy there should be data.

"That's why we're very grateful that now we have an integrated way of doing our statistics and data under the National Statistics Authority," she noted.

To make the country's education system at par with other countries, the Aquino administration implemented the K to 12 Program that covers Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.

The program covers six years of primary education, four years of Junior High School, and two years of Senior High School.

During the school year 2012-2013, there were 33 public high schools, public technical-vocational high schools, and higher education institutions that have implemented Grade 11.

This is a Research and Design (R&D) program to simulate different aspects of Senior High School in preparation for full nationwide implementation in School Year 2016-2017.

Modeling programs offered by these schools are based on students’ interests, community needs, and their respective capacities. (PCOO News Release)