DepEd launches framework to improve quality of public school education

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday launched a framework that aims to decongest public schools and allow public school learners to get the same quality of education as those found in private schools. 

The Public-Private Education Complementarity Framework, launched during the 2023 Private Education National Conference, aims to promote coherence in the development of the mixed education system in the Philippines. 

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said that every Filipino learner, either from public or private school, deserves an equal opportunity to learn and reach their full potential.

However, she explained that at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of students transferred from private schools to public schools, which caused many private schools across the country to shut down and many public schools to become overcrowded. 

“The pandemic forced us to reckon with the weaknesses of our education system. Many Filipinos lost their jobs, and the uncertainty forced many parents to send their children to public schools. This experience taught us that the demand for quality education far exceeds the capacity of our public schools,” she said in a statement read by DepEd Undersecretary Revsee Escobedo. 

Duterte said that through the complementarity framework, the congestion in public schools could not only be addressed, but access to quality education could also be extended to students from low-income families.

“With this framework, we are leveraging the strengths of both the public and private sectors. Let us foster a collaborative environment where public and private schools work together to address the challenges and opportunities facing Philippine education today,” she added.

Public schools can learn from private schools

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate basic education committee, stressed the DepEd initiative will improve the quality of education for all Filipino learners, considering their poor performance in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). 

“Kung titingnan ang grado naman ng private school, mas mataas kaysa sa public school. So ibig sabihin, meron tayo pwedeng matutunan na maganda sa private school natin na pwede nating dalhin sa public school. Isa sa nakikita kong pwedeng pagtulungan ay maimprove ang quality, at of course marami pa,” he said in an ambush interview. 

(The grades of private school students are higher than those in public school. This means we can learn something good from private schools that we can bring to public schools. One of the things I see is  we can work together  to improve is the quality of education, among many others.) 

The senator’s sentiments were echoed by Education deputy spokesperson Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas, who said the department should be harnessing the potential of private learning institutions whose students performed better in the latest PISA. 

“If public school learners now would have access to private schools at no cost, then it will also greatly improve our performance not only in large scale assessments, pero in our own assessments at the national level para makita natin ‘yung impact ng learning recovery plan natin [but also in national assessments so we could see the impact of our learning recovery plan],” Bringas said.

The DepEd spokesperson said the framework will be the basis for the roadmap, and a Department Order will be issued after the launch. Target implementation will be in the first semester of 2024. —RF, GMA Integrated News