math_techie
Jul 29, 2007, 11:12 AM
MANILA, Philippines—The “temporary” transfer of President Macapagal-Arroyo’s chief economist to the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), which officially takes place next week, reflects her resolve to address the ills plaguing the education sector.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri virtually confirmed yesterday that the education sector was mired in a crisis that could drag down the economy and put at risk the President’s vision of a modern Philippines in 20 years.
“We have too many unemployed college graduates,” Neri said in a phone interview when asked about the gravity of the problem. He put the number at “about one million” nationwide.
He said Ms Arroyo’s “special assignment” for him concerned the “mismatch” between the demands of the market, or jobs, and the available personnel resources.
“We want to make sure the college graduates are matched with the requirements of the industry,” he said.
On July 10, Ms Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 632 designating a de facto education czar to “assess, plan and monitor the entire educational system.”
The EO abolished the National Coordinating Council for Education (NCCE), replacing it with “a presidential assistant to exercise its functions.”
But Neri, the head of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said he was not the presidential assistant mentioned in the EO.
“I don’t know, not me. I’m not familiar with the presidential assistant. All I know is I am the chairman of CHEd,” he said.
Neri said he was offered the CHEd post during a meeting with Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in Malacañang on Wednesday.
“I was asked to transfer there. There is work to be done there—reforms that the President wants fast,” he said.
Asked about outgoing CHEd Chair Carlito Puno’s fate, he said: “I don’t know yet.”
Puno was a commissioner at CHEd starting in 2001; he was appointed regular chair in January 2004.
His tenure as regular chair expired in July 2006, and he was consequently reappointed acting chair.
But according to Puno, he did not take on the appointment as acting chair because it was a demotion, and had continued as a regular chair in a holdover capacity up to the present.
Neri said he was ready to take on the job.
Asked if Ms Arroyo was sending “a top economic manager” like himself to do troubleshooting at CHEd, he replied in the affirmative.
“Well, I’m an educator myself,” Neri said. “I was a professor of finance for 16 years at the AIM (Asian Institute of Management). All I know is I’m familiar with education. I am an academician myself. I’m familiar with the workings of the academe.”
As revealed the other day to the Inquirer by a congressional leader privy to the latest Cabinet change, Neri is to return to his NEDA post after six months.
Augusto Santos, the deputy director general of NEDA, will serve as officer in charge during Neri’s absence.
“I have to go back after six months, hoping I can do my job properly,” Neri said.
To solve ‘mismatch’
Presidential Management Staff chief Cerge Remonde said Neri’s transfer was part of a “continuing, not a one-time wholesale revamp,” of the Cabinet.
In an interview over Radyo ng Bayan, Remonde said more Cabinet members would be relieved or reassigned to other posts because the President was “responding to the call of the times.”
“You can’t rule out [a Cabinet revamp]. That’s part of dynamic leadership and dynamic governance. You really have to make continuous adjustments in the bureaucracy to make [it] more responsive to the challenges and needs of the times,” he said.
Remonde said the reshuffle of Ms Arroyo’s official family would be done “as the need arises.”
“And the President is precisely given enough powers and prerogatives to be able to do these things, so that she can effectively govern,” he said.
Ms Arroyo has effected changes in her Cabinet since June 30, appointing Tarlac Rep. Gilbert Teodoro as defense secretary to replace Hermogenes Ebdane, who was returned to his old post as public works secretary; naming former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza to replace Angelo Reyes, who will move to the energy department, and sacking Internal Revenue Commissioner Jose Mario Buñag.
Remonde confirmed that Neri’s transfer would address the worsening “mismatch” in the education sector.
“To solve that mismatch, we have to reorient our education system, particularly higher education,” he said. “So we have to go through more ‘techvoc,’ or technical-vocational, engineering courses. We’re promoting entrepreneurship, education reoriented to entrepreneurship, instead of just [studying to be able to get] employment, among other things.”
Remonde said Ms Arroyo had named the presidential assistant to take charge of the planned educational reforms.
“I know, but I’m not at liberty to divulge it. My lips are sealed for the moment,” he said, adding that the creation of a de facto “education czar” would harmonize the government’s policy on education.
No more gov’t post
In a phone interview, Puno said that while he was willing to vacate his post at CHEd, he had informed the Palace that he was not keen on accepting another post in the government.
“We all work at the pleasure of the President. We come and go, and it is her prerogative. However, it is also my prerogative to continue in the government or not,” he said.
Puno said representatives of Malacañang called him as early as Tuesday last week to offer him the chairmanship of a government-owned and -controlled corporation in exchange for his removal from CHEd.
He said he received calls from the Palace yesterday morning regarding the offer but that he remained firm on his position: “I have been consistent. I am not willing to accept any other position.”
He refused to comment on the President’s decision to appoint Neri in his place, saying the situation was still uncertain at this point because the appointment papers had yet to be signed.
Only last Thursday, Puno announced CHEd’s new projects, including a massive tree-planting program and increasing financing for student loans from P215 million to P4 billion, through the Land Bank of the Philippines. (See story on Page A9.)
What businesses want
According to Neri, one solution to the mismatch between market demand and higher education output is to “coordinate with our businesses, find out what they really want … to make sure we get the curriculum relevant to the needs of the businesses.”
Prior to the issuance of EO 632, the NCCE—which was created under EO 273 in 2000—had specific mandates: To serve as a regular forum for “trans-subsectoral consultations on cross-cutting policies and programs,” harmonize goals and objectives for the entire educational system and dovetail them to national development plans, review existing and proposed programs for coordination, set priorities, monitor implementation of reforms, and designate and provide guidelines for Philippine representatives in international and national conferences.
The NCCE had been chaired on a rotating basis every two years by the heads of the Department of Education, CHEd and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).
But per EO 632, CHEd and DepEd “vehemently opposed the Tesda chairmanship” currently held by former Rep. Augusto Syjuco.
Ms Arroyo said EO 632 would “take effect immediately” because of “the need to synchronize and harmonize the government’s educational policies, programs and initiatives, [which] becomes all the more urgent given our country’s ranking in world competitiveness.” With a report from Beverly T. Natividad
An economist as the new education czar...ano kaya ang mangyayari?
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri virtually confirmed yesterday that the education sector was mired in a crisis that could drag down the economy and put at risk the President’s vision of a modern Philippines in 20 years.
“We have too many unemployed college graduates,” Neri said in a phone interview when asked about the gravity of the problem. He put the number at “about one million” nationwide.
He said Ms Arroyo’s “special assignment” for him concerned the “mismatch” between the demands of the market, or jobs, and the available personnel resources.
“We want to make sure the college graduates are matched with the requirements of the industry,” he said.
On July 10, Ms Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 632 designating a de facto education czar to “assess, plan and monitor the entire educational system.”
The EO abolished the National Coordinating Council for Education (NCCE), replacing it with “a presidential assistant to exercise its functions.”
But Neri, the head of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said he was not the presidential assistant mentioned in the EO.
“I don’t know, not me. I’m not familiar with the presidential assistant. All I know is I am the chairman of CHEd,” he said.
Neri said he was offered the CHEd post during a meeting with Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in Malacañang on Wednesday.
“I was asked to transfer there. There is work to be done there—reforms that the President wants fast,” he said.
Asked about outgoing CHEd Chair Carlito Puno’s fate, he said: “I don’t know yet.”
Puno was a commissioner at CHEd starting in 2001; he was appointed regular chair in January 2004.
His tenure as regular chair expired in July 2006, and he was consequently reappointed acting chair.
But according to Puno, he did not take on the appointment as acting chair because it was a demotion, and had continued as a regular chair in a holdover capacity up to the present.
Neri said he was ready to take on the job.
Asked if Ms Arroyo was sending “a top economic manager” like himself to do troubleshooting at CHEd, he replied in the affirmative.
“Well, I’m an educator myself,” Neri said. “I was a professor of finance for 16 years at the AIM (Asian Institute of Management). All I know is I’m familiar with education. I am an academician myself. I’m familiar with the workings of the academe.”
As revealed the other day to the Inquirer by a congressional leader privy to the latest Cabinet change, Neri is to return to his NEDA post after six months.
Augusto Santos, the deputy director general of NEDA, will serve as officer in charge during Neri’s absence.
“I have to go back after six months, hoping I can do my job properly,” Neri said.
To solve ‘mismatch’
Presidential Management Staff chief Cerge Remonde said Neri’s transfer was part of a “continuing, not a one-time wholesale revamp,” of the Cabinet.
In an interview over Radyo ng Bayan, Remonde said more Cabinet members would be relieved or reassigned to other posts because the President was “responding to the call of the times.”
“You can’t rule out [a Cabinet revamp]. That’s part of dynamic leadership and dynamic governance. You really have to make continuous adjustments in the bureaucracy to make [it] more responsive to the challenges and needs of the times,” he said.
Remonde said the reshuffle of Ms Arroyo’s official family would be done “as the need arises.”
“And the President is precisely given enough powers and prerogatives to be able to do these things, so that she can effectively govern,” he said.
Ms Arroyo has effected changes in her Cabinet since June 30, appointing Tarlac Rep. Gilbert Teodoro as defense secretary to replace Hermogenes Ebdane, who was returned to his old post as public works secretary; naming former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza to replace Angelo Reyes, who will move to the energy department, and sacking Internal Revenue Commissioner Jose Mario Buñag.
Remonde confirmed that Neri’s transfer would address the worsening “mismatch” in the education sector.
“To solve that mismatch, we have to reorient our education system, particularly higher education,” he said. “So we have to go through more ‘techvoc,’ or technical-vocational, engineering courses. We’re promoting entrepreneurship, education reoriented to entrepreneurship, instead of just [studying to be able to get] employment, among other things.”
Remonde said Ms Arroyo had named the presidential assistant to take charge of the planned educational reforms.
“I know, but I’m not at liberty to divulge it. My lips are sealed for the moment,” he said, adding that the creation of a de facto “education czar” would harmonize the government’s policy on education.
No more gov’t post
In a phone interview, Puno said that while he was willing to vacate his post at CHEd, he had informed the Palace that he was not keen on accepting another post in the government.
“We all work at the pleasure of the President. We come and go, and it is her prerogative. However, it is also my prerogative to continue in the government or not,” he said.
Puno said representatives of Malacañang called him as early as Tuesday last week to offer him the chairmanship of a government-owned and -controlled corporation in exchange for his removal from CHEd.
He said he received calls from the Palace yesterday morning regarding the offer but that he remained firm on his position: “I have been consistent. I am not willing to accept any other position.”
He refused to comment on the President’s decision to appoint Neri in his place, saying the situation was still uncertain at this point because the appointment papers had yet to be signed.
Only last Thursday, Puno announced CHEd’s new projects, including a massive tree-planting program and increasing financing for student loans from P215 million to P4 billion, through the Land Bank of the Philippines. (See story on Page A9.)
What businesses want
According to Neri, one solution to the mismatch between market demand and higher education output is to “coordinate with our businesses, find out what they really want … to make sure we get the curriculum relevant to the needs of the businesses.”
Prior to the issuance of EO 632, the NCCE—which was created under EO 273 in 2000—had specific mandates: To serve as a regular forum for “trans-subsectoral consultations on cross-cutting policies and programs,” harmonize goals and objectives for the entire educational system and dovetail them to national development plans, review existing and proposed programs for coordination, set priorities, monitor implementation of reforms, and designate and provide guidelines for Philippine representatives in international and national conferences.
The NCCE had been chaired on a rotating basis every two years by the heads of the Department of Education, CHEd and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).
But per EO 632, CHEd and DepEd “vehemently opposed the Tesda chairmanship” currently held by former Rep. Augusto Syjuco.
Ms Arroyo said EO 632 would “take effect immediately” because of “the need to synchronize and harmonize the government’s educational policies, programs and initiatives, [which] becomes all the more urgent given our country’s ranking in world competitiveness.” With a report from Beverly T. Natividad
An economist as the new education czar...ano kaya ang mangyayari?