Press Release
September 7, 2008

Angara pushes for review of Engineering and Nursing curriculums

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today stressed that the need to review the country's education curriculums in order to produce qualified talents and answer the demand of the market.

Speaking before the 5th National Youth Congress held in UP Diliman, Angara also urged the government to provide more trainings and opportunities in order to attain a globally competitive S&T sector.

"In terms of Science and Technology education, we are really not that progressive. We are slow in adapting to change. There is a mismatch between the curriculum and the needs of the market. Labor laws, specifically the Professional Regulatory laws prescribe curriculum and subject of professional examination which are obsolete even if there new subjects the students need to know," says Angara, who chairs Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering (COMSTE).

He added, "Four out of ten engineering graduates in this country are qualified and eligible. Whether they are trained as Electrical, Chemical or Computer Engineer among others, they are good. But six out of that ten are completely unqualified. And the employer have to spend at least from 6 months to 1 year to give them additional training."

Angara, who is a former UP president, stressed that in order to address this mismatch and to boost our aspirations for a globally-competitive S&T education we must be adaptable to change.

"We have to change many of those laws that require X, Y, Z subjects ought to be thought in college and therefore subject of professional examination, when those subjects are no longer relevant. So that's the main cause of mismatch." Angara said.

He also urged the government to earmark funds for youth S&T training and to provide more incentives and benefits to schools and teachers. Senator Angara filed a bill which seeks to increase the wages of our public school teachers to encourage them to stay in the country and contribute to nation-building.

"It's a chicken and egg proposition. If we don't make our own economy prosperous then we will just continue losing our good people. If we lose our good people we will never make our country more prosperous. That is were to me the government must intervene, in training and education, in giving schools and teachers incentives so we can produce trained and qualified manpower", he said.

Angara then emphasized, "We have to improve our Science, Math and Engineering (SME) education because these are the weakest sectors in the education system. Experts say that countries with improved SME have the biggest growth rate and we, as a nation, must be able to cope up with this."

Jointly chaired by Senator Edgardo J. Angara and Cavite Representative Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya, COMSTE is expected to introduce or amend legislation that will make the Philippines more competitive world wide, particularly in Science and Technology. (30)

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