EDCOM 1991

The Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM) in its report prepared in 1991-92 has revealed the
inadequacy of programs and the poor access to special education (SPED) brought about by the limited
number of special schools and SPED center in the country. In light of the foregoing, this bill is relevant for it
addresses the problem of limited SPED facilities. This bill aims to establish Municipal Special Education
Centers for deaf-mute and blind children to ensure accessibility of the latter to such institutions in every
municipality. Early passage of this bill is therefore earnestly solicited.It was alsoindicatedthehigh dropout
rates especially in the rural areas were significantly marked which was probably caused by inadequacy of
preparation among the young children.It showed that the quality of Philippine education was continuously
declining. This was attributed to two principal reason which were as follows: theGovernment was not
investing enough in our education system, andour education establishment was poorly managed

which were as follows: theGovernment was not investing enough in our education system, andour education
establishment was poorly managed. A more detailedfindings was observed by the Phil. Congress regarding
the weaknesses of the educational system. The first one was the limited access to education by a large part
of the population, another was the inadequate investments to teaching materialsandlearning resources in
primary education institutions, lack of curriculum upgradingand lastly the industry coordinationandmarket
focus in the case of both tertiaryandtech-voc.institutions, which have resulted to job mismatch and poor job
placement of graduates.The EDCOM Report in 1991 divulged the education situation of the Philippines
which is deteriorating. Evidently, this was justified by the result of our Achievement Tests that is far beyond
the target rating therefore,The EDCOM recommended more efficiency and more productivity from both our
education budget and our education establishment. As a result, the congress came up with a law creating
the CHED , whose primary purpose is to regulate colleges & universities. Through its program promoting
‘national centers of excellence’, CHED is trying to encourage colleges & universities to develop special niches
in certain areas of human knowledge which have a direct relevance to society andindustry.

Here are the proposed curriculum enabler. In elementary level they increase the number of school, days per
year by185 days to at least 200 daysandthe daily class time by220 minutes to 300 minutes. They also
increasethestudy time for critical subjects such as English, Mathematics and Natural Sciencesand the
administeringof the National Elementary Achievement Test (NEAT) to all Grade 6 pupils in all private schools
in English, Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

In secondarylevel, they increase the number of school days in a year by 185 days to 200 days, increasethe
daily class time for natural science subjects and home economics from 60 minutes to 80 minutes, increase in
the number of contact time for academic subjects by allowing individual schools for option to replace Values
Education III and IV with either English, Mathematics or Natural Science Subjects. They also
administerNational Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT) to measure achievement in English,
ScienceandMathematics On the teacherdevelopment,prerequisiteto have alicenseand certification of
teaching competenciescreated by PRC,creation of and clear career service paths for

promotions and career planning for teachers and administrators, improvement in teachers’ welfare and
benefitsand improvement and strengthening of pre-service service education.