Sofitel Hotel, Pasay City
January 30, 2023

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. expressed commitment and urged everyone to support the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Education Agenda presented by Vice President and concurrent Education Secretary Sara Z. Duterte during the Basic Education Report (BER) 2023 at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City.

“The Filipino is better than this, the children are better than this, and we cannot fail them and that is the main motivation that we should keep in our hearts. We have failed them. We have to admit that. We have failed our children and let us not keep failing them anymore,” the President said in dismay.

According to Vice President Duterte, there are about 24.8 million students enrolled for school year 2022-2023, majority of whom are facing various challenges. These include students failing to become academically proficient due to psychological fatigue that leads to being academically insecure, and failing to meet the standards of the demanding and competitive world.

Among the challenges outlined include the need to improve school facilities, where out of 327,851 school buildings in the country, 21,727 of which are set for condemnation while 89,252 need major repairs. Other pressing concerns raised are the need to update curriculum where it was deemed congested and lacking of essential learning competencies.

With the theme, “MATATAG: Bansang Makabata, Batang Makabansa,” the DepEd is set to launch various programs and measures to reform and revitalize the country’s education system through its National Learning Recovery Plan.

“Let us embrace the DepEd’s theme and a fine one it is, ‘Bansang Makabata, Batang Makabansa,’ in that way we can produce young citizens who are not only productive but also harbor genuine love and passion for our country,” President Marcos Jr. said in concluding his message.

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