EDITORIAL - It’s about time

So the biggest news in Philippine politics today is the resignation of Vice President Sara Duterte Carpio as Department of Education secretary.

The political pundits are saying this means the end of the UniTeam. Well, we won’t dwell on the political implications of this because we already mentioned some time ago that the UniTeam actually already died after the last presidential election. Let’s focus on the education aspect of this latest development instead.

It’s about time she quit as Education secretary.

She never really had the aptitude or the heart for the position. We can’t really blame her for this though, she didn’t choose the Education portfolio; it was chosen for her by the president. She wanted the Defense portfolio which would have been more powerful indeed, and hence why it was not given to her.

She wasn’t ideal for the Education portfolio, as reflected by her many controversial pronouncements as DepEd secretary. Remember when she forbade interaction between the teachers and students outside the classroom, claiming this would lead to favoritism? Or when she said to take down visual teaching aids in classrooms because these were distracting? Or when she asked for an intelligence budget so she could spy on the students and teachers so they will not fall under subversive influences? These policies and more had people and teachers scratching their heads as to what she was really up to.

More importantly, these showed how she never really became familiar with the role of educators and her own role as Education secretary, no matter how hard she tried.

For all her faults it’s good of her to step down. This means we now can put in someone who can actually make a difference. For those paying attention, our educational system isn’t exactly improving.

We hope the president sees his mistake that the Education portfolio should have been handed to someone who is actually involved in the educational system, is a qualified educator, and who knows what needs to be done with the educational system.

He should no longer give this very critical and extremely crucial post to someone just because he or she is a political ally. We have no shortage of people who are qualified for the post.