The fourth challenge: promote private – public sector collaboration in your region.

In
region XI, the Davao Association of Catholic Schools (DACS) has come together with the
DepEd to do joint regional research, educational mapping and planning, and so
undertake to work together to evolve a collaborative system of public and private senior
high schools. Br. Armin thinks this type of public-private “consortium” of schools is the
best way to go in terms of insuring optimum education even for the most financially
challenged of accomplished public school students. Schools in far flung areas offering
expensive programs with costly lab requirements would get private and public support
for these programs. Part of the plan is to encourage fresh college graduates to serve for
a year or two as teacher volunteers.

The defining challenge: quality assurance! Whether government likes it or not, whether
they recognize it or not, we show ourselves deadly serious about quality assurance, and
especially about accreditation! We have submitted to government our proposal as to
what we consider a good quality assurance policy. It is being considered in CHED, it is
about to be deliberated on in Congress. If government accepts our proposal, our
problem is solved. If government does not, we adopt it nevertheless – and impose it on
ourselves in autonomy and academic freedom. If, because we cannot accept their CMO
46, they do not recognize the worthiness of some of our schools for deregulation or
autonomy, let us show them and the globe why these schools more than deserve
deregulation and autonomy. The strength of PAASCU has always been that it has been
voluntary. That is the free will of its members to quality, their self-imposed
commitment to help each other improve quality, their record of program and
institutional improvement through years of accreditation and heeding accreditation – a
quality assurance culture that was in place and functioning a half century before the
Philippine government discovered the discourse of quality assurance.