Marcos: Government will not scrimp on education

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 30) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said his administration is in full support of Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte's goal to improve the country's basic education system.

In his speech at the presentation of the Department of Education's Basic Education Report (BER) 2023 on Monday, Marcos reaffirmed an earlier commitment saying the government would "at no point scrimp on investment in our education sector and in our young learners."

"We will work hard so that no Filipino is left behind. And to do even better, we will ensure that we are at par with the global standards in basic education. This endeavor will be at the forefront of our efforts to realize our vision of providing a quality education for our children and for generations to come," he said.

Duterte bared the state of the country's basic education program at the event, stating the challenges faced by learners, educators, as well as the DepEd while also laying out a roadmap dubbed the MATATAG Agenda to address the issues.

Marcos said among the many measures that would be taken are building infrastructure to provide healthy learning environments and investing in teachers.

"We will offer them multiple opportunities that meet both their personal and professional needs,” said the president. "We will offer them the support they need in terms of resources, programs and policies so they can effectively perform their roles as teachers and mentors of our children."

Similar efforts will be made for students, said Marcos, to help them become productive citizens who "harbor genuine love and passion for our country."

"If we have failed them, we have to admit that — we have failed our children, and let us not keep failing them anymore, otherwise we will not allow them to become the great Filipinos that we know they can be," Marcos said.