Press Release - Need for decentralization, industry participation among EDCOM 2-UPPEJA Fellows' findings

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), in partnership with the University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UP CIDS), held a conference on Thursday for the final presentation of findings and recommendations from the UP President Edgardo J. Angara (UPPEJA) Fellows.

In September 2023, the UPPEJA Fellowship named 23 distinguished researchers to tackle urgent issues that align with EDCOM 2's Priority Areas.

Named after the late UP President Edgardo J. Angara, UPPEJA is a grant dedicated to groundbreaking policy research. The fellowship honors Angara's commitment to education reform and has become a key platform for scholars aiming to drive meaningful change in the Philippine education system.

In his opening remarks, Department of Education Secretary Sonny Angara, underscored the importance of the fellowship's contributions to helping education reform. "We hope to gain more insights on what reforms can be made so our school administrators and teachers can meaningfully take charge and be accountable for the quality of instruction they offer our students", Angara said.

"We look forward to hearing about the innovative ways our schools and our citizens can help with improving education governance across the country; and we anticipate some new learnings about how emerging technologies like artificial intelligence can play in addressing some of our resource gaps", he continued.

EDCOM 2 Co-Chair Senator Sherwin Gatchalian acknowledged the contribution of the Fellows to the Commission's mission. "I thank UP CIDS, our fellows and all the partners who opened up their doors for us and helped us come up with very important evidence-based recommendations for our education reform", he said.

Decentralization and access to education

One of the central themes that emerged from the research was decentralizing the education sector to enhance responsiveness. Dr. Maria Regina Hechanova Alampay articulated this by describing the current system as "like an inverted triangle -- napakaraming tao sa taas o sa central, pero kaunti sa local at on the ground." The researchers recommended increased autonomy for local governments to foster