TWO senators have expressed support for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s plan to streamline the bureaucracy and improve the country’s present educational system.

Senator Francis Chiz Escudero refiled a bill seeking to lower the compulsory retirement age of employees of the Department of Education (DEPED) from 65-years-old to 60.

Escudero’s Senate Bill No. 58 stated that the proposed measure would cover all DEPED regular employees, including the public school teachers whose headcount as of 2019 stood at more than 800,000.

“If enacted into law, this proposed legislation will benefit hundreds and thousands of retirable DepEd personnel, both teaching, and non-teaching, who would want to spend the prime of their lives doing other occupations other than their usual functions in the government,”said Escudero, chair of the Senate Committee on Higher Education, Technical and Vocational Education.

“Mas marapat na bigyan natin ang mga kawani ng mahaba-habang panahon para sa kanilang pamilya. There is more to life than work,” added Escudero, who first filed the bill in 2016.

The senator said the bill entitled “New DepEd Retirement Age Act” aims to revitalize the department to ensure high-quality education in both public and private schools.

“This measure shall also open the doors of opportunities to young teachers and non-teaching aspirants for the jobs at the Education Department,” Escudero said.

However, the bill allows a DEPED employee to serve until he or she reaches the age of 65 if he or she has less than 15 years of service, subject to the existing civil service policies and Government Services Insurance System (GSIS) rules and regulations.

For his part, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said he is carefully reviewing the K to 12 system.

Gatchalian filed Proposed Senate Resolution No. 5 seeking a Senate inquiry into the status of the implementation of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 or the K to 12 Law (Republic Act No. 10533).

The proposed review provides for the identification of solutions in improving the implementation of the law, especially amidst growing dissatisfaction over the K to 12 system.

“Bilang chairman ng Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, makikipagtulungan tayo sa administrasyon upang tiyaking maihahatid natin sa bawat kabataang Pilipino ang dekalidad na edukasyon,” said Gatchalian.

President Marcos in his SONA said the Philippines should do better in international rankings when it comes to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, which has been the call of the lawmaker for years now.

The results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) 2019 showed that only 13% and 19% of Grade 4 students in the Philippines meet the minimum benchmark in Science and Math, respectively.

Considering that teachers are one of the most important factors in education, Gatchalian is seeking the full and proper implementation of the Excellence in Teacher Education Act (Republic Act

No. 11713), which seeks to improve the quality of teacher training and education in the country.

Gatchalian’s Senate Bill No.476 or the Equitable Access to Math and Science Education Act aims to establish accessible math and science high schools across the Philippines, particularly in all provinces that do not have at least one public math and science high school.

The President emphasized the children’s need for internet connectivity, computers, and educational tools.

To accelerate the digital transformation of the basic education sector, Gatchalian filed Senate Bill No. 383 or the Digital Transformation in Basic Education Act and Senate Bill No. 474 or the One

Learner One Laptop Act, which will mandate the Department of Education (DepEd) to provide a laptop for every learner enrolled under the K to 12 program in public schools.

President Marcos asked Congress to reinstitute the Mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) as a mandatory component of senior high school which Gatchalian proposed in his Senate Bill No. 387.