Palace cool to 1 more year of college

Malacañang is not keen on a proposal of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to add one year to college courses to make the country’s tertiary education system at par with other countries.

Presidential Adviser on Education Mona Valisno said President Arroyo has approved the recommendation of the Presidential Task Force on Education (PTFE) – of which she is part – to keep the present tertiary education system.

Engineering, nursing, accountancy and architecture – which require graduates to take licensure examinations – are already five-year courses, she added.

Valisno said it was unnecessary to add more years to basic education because it is not just “going to school” but learning that matters.

The Philippines has been implementing a 15-year educational system from pre-school to college, she said.

Some states in the United States have started reducing the number of years students would spend in school, Valisno pointed out.

Based on the PTFE’s recommendation to Mrs. Arroyo and the Cabinet, the first two years of the country’s professional programs like engineering, accountancy and architecture would be benchmarked with the two-year pre-university programs in Singapore and Europe.

The task force said the last two years of pre-university in Europe and Singapore are very similar to the first two years of general education in Philippine colleges.    – Marvin Sy