Gatchalian eyes improvement of country's educational system

CEBU, Philippines - A huge mismatch between the courses offered in schools and the jobs available in the country leads to more unemployment among our graduates.

This is the recent scenario in our educational system which Valenzuela Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian wants to correct by further improving a curriculum that encourages critical and analytical thinking.

“Marami talagang graduates who would end up as dancers, let’s say in a television show, kasi madali lang. Walang gustong mag-scientists or into Chemistry or Physics kasi mahirap. But these jobs are available, kaso lang nobody is qualified, (Many graduates end up as dancers in television shows because it is easier. Nobody wants to be scientists or go into Chemistry or Physics because it is difficult. These jobs are available but nobody is qualified.)” Gatchalian said in a press conference yesterday.

The 37-year-old bachelor mayor, who successfully steered Valenzuela to the top of DILG’s Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS) last year from among highly-urbanized cities in the country, has made known his political plans of running as senator.

Valenzuela topped all LGPMS categories including local legislation, revenue generation, resource allocation and utilization, environmental governance, transparency, participation, financial accountability, and delivery of basic social services such as education, health, housing, and peace and order.

Gatchalian, who was also a congressman before being elected as mayor, said that he is now going around the country to feel the pulse of the people as he believed that with his experience as a legislator and as a chief executive, he will be able to share his brand of leadership to the entire country.

Improving the country’s educational system is among his advocacies as he plans to do so by further encouraging local government units to include in their respective localities, Mathematics-related subjects such as Physics and Chemistry, to produce better graduates who will not end up jobless after graduation.

“The Department of Education provides the basic curriculum but the LGUs should have an initiative on how to improve the said curriculum. Diskarte na kasi yan ng LGU, (It’s already up to the LGUs approach towards improving the curriculum.)” he said.

Currently, Gatchalian said that Valenzuela’s government has a tie-up with the Ateneo university on how to reduce malnutrition among schoolchildren, how to improve teacher’s performance and further strengthen Mathematics and Science subjects in their schools.  (FREEMAN)