Press Release
May 5, 2009

With School Year 2009-2010 fast approaching
ANGARA EYES ESTABLISHMENT OF CENTER FOR LEADING EDGE EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES (CLEET)

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today said that establishment of a Center for Leading Edge Educational Technologies (CLEET) will bring together the academic, technoIogica1 and economic forces which can boosts our country's bid for educational competitiveness.

"Among the main problems confronting the educational system in the country today, aside from lack of adequate funds and low teacher salaries, are staffing problems in remote school sites, educational inequities in terms of access and quality of education and inadequate in-service training of teachers," said Angara who chairs the Congressional Commission on Science and Technology and Engineering (COMSTE).

He added, "The CLEET will be a partnership of the government and the private sector. Through it, we can focus the collective resources of the government and the private sector into a national force for innovation in education towards global competitiveness."

The country's competitiveness has slid down 29 places since 2001 because of the failure to upgrade and update the educational system.

Presently, the Philippines is in the bottom third of the global competitiveness list of 117 countries.

He also lamented the poor performance of Filipino students in Science and Mathematics international examinations.

An international study on math and science shows that Filipino students performed poorly compared with students from other countries. In examinations taken by high school students from 45 countries, our students are ranked 41st in math and 42nd in science, he lamented.

The senator, who is also dubbed as "Mr. Education" due to his roles in Education Commission (EDCOM), cited that emerging educational technologies in the education market place, such as application of telecommunications technology to distance learning and use of mobile automated learning labs or MALLS in other countries, are proven effective in addressing these perennial education problems such as those being confronted by the Philippines.

"Effective adoption of technologies will revolutionize Philippine education as in the developed countries of the world. Our country, however, has limited resources in developing indigenous leading-edge educational technologies. Through CLEET, we can be very judicious in adopting these technologies," added Angara.

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