CHED urged to shut down poor teacher education programs

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Higher Education must deliver on its recently issued resolution that promises to order the closure of teacher education programs that fall below minimum standards, a lawmaker said on Thursday.

Rep. Kristine Alexie Besas Tutor (Bohol, 3rd district), chair of the House committee on civil service and professional regulation, said that CHED must now turn its resolution into a memorandum to implement the policy.
 
 "The CHED resolution has yet to be translated into a CHED memorandum order which implements the resolution. Implementation is also a different matter entirely," Tutor said.

The lawmaker said that promises to close down non-performing and non-compliant teacher education programs have been made several times in the past.

"I want to believe it will finally happen because it must be done to stop the further deterioration of basic education nationwide," Tutor said.

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) said that CHED had revised its memorandum order nos. 74 to 80 and 82, series of 2017, which are designed to ensure the quality of pre-service teacher education in the country.

The revised policy states that CHED will now issue a notice of immediate closure of programs, among the other intervention, for teacher education institutions consistently found to be non-performing in the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) and non-compliant with the minimum standards set by CHED. 

Based on a study that looks at 12-year data from the Professional Regulatory Commission and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), over half, or 56%, of all TEIs have performed below average in the annual licensure exam for teachers in elementary and secondary education.

The 2023 study by education advocacy group Philippine Business for Education found that only 2% of schools offering teacher education can be classified as "high-performing" or those with passing rates of at least 75%. — Cristina Chi