At the 79th FUSE General Assembly last July 31 at the Century Park Hotel in Manila, the organization’s executive committee led by its president, former Agriculture Secretary Salvador Escudero III, assisted by the Program Planning Workshop facilitator, unveiled the program consisting of a vision-mission statement and covering the period 2002 to 2005.
The highlight of the program is emphasis on the need to continue teacher training in English, mathematics and science, which is held every summer for representatives from public and parochial schools nationwide.
The other major components include: the recommendation for the hiring of a qualified full-time FUSE executive director; formation of FUSE advocacy teams to help shape policies on education and other related issues; and funding deemed vital to sustain operations for its various projects.
In his presentation, Escudero reiterated the FUSE vision of forming a "community of committed professionals aware of critical education issues and taking action to help attain quality education."
The presentation was also considered significant in another aspect. It occurred during the monthly regular forum where speakers from various fields of expertise were invited to talk and broaden the perspective of educators, policy-makers and the business community in the needed educational reforms.
Led by businessman Lucio Tan, FUSE was formally organized on April 12, 1994 by academicians, businessmen, lawmakers and representatives of other concerned sectors to help arrest the rapid deterioration of the country’s educational system.
They expressed their grave concern particularly on the increasing number of graduates who can neither read nor write basic English – the lingua franca of international science and commerce – and worse, do simple arithmetic.