Aside from being the second-highest official of the land and Education secretary, Vice President Sara Carpio has accepted to be designated as co-vice chairwoman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
For us this was not an advisable move, Vice President Carpio doesn’t need any more distractions.
The Education portfolio is supposed to be a full-time one and handled by someone with actual experience in that field. It’s bad enough that it was given to someone with no educational experience whatsoever but also someone who has vice presidential duties to fulfill and someone who is expected to take over the presidency at any time.
Now they want to give her something else that requires her attention.
Vice President Carpio hasn’t been doing an outstanding job as Education secretary. Until now we believe she doesn’t completely understand this role, what with her asking for an intelligence fund she can use to conduct espionage on teachers, then again when she discouraged teachers and students from having friendly relations or even plain interactions outside the school with Department Order No. 49.
She has this persistent mindset that teachers are criminals. They aren’t.
But putting that aside, considering present proposals to revert the school calendar to the old one, the move to make changes or entirely overhaul K to 12, the deteriorating quality of learning of our students, our lack of learning facilities like classrooms, and how climate change is impacting learning, among other issues hounding our education system, she cannot afford to split her attention even more.
The fact that NTF-ELCAC is a non-essential agency, a redundant one whose functions are already being performed --and better-- by other government agencies, is another issue entirely.
The Education portfolio is one of the most important roles in our government because it directly impacts how our children learn, and that directly impacts our future as a nation. It is a role that deserves one’s full attention considering the recent developments as well as the problems that never seem to go away.
The one who has that crucial role cannot afford other distractions.