EFFORTS TO develop the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) in Philippine schools are underway, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said, as he called for digitalization in the sector to fulfill an “educational reform through technology.”
During his third State of the Nation Address (SONA), Marcos said the administration remains steadfast in bridging the country’s digital gap through advanced learning systems and technologies.
“We are working towards the day when all students will be equipped with computers, smart TVs, essential programs, digital books — and once again, access to reliable power and Internet,” he said on Monday, July 22, at the Batasang Pambansa Complex.
“We are also building essential infrastructure and linkages to support the ethical development of artificial intelligence systems for high-impact practical applications.”
According to the President, different education agencies are collaborating to integrate the Technical-Vocational Education and Training (TVET) program into the senior high school curriculum to improve employment opportunities. The program seeks to provide students with knowledge and training in occupational fields, services and livelihoods.
“Eight out of ten graduates of TVET ultimately land decent jobs. With its high employability rate, TVET will definitely be instrumental in capacitating our people, and in maintaining our employment rate at consistently high levels,” Marcos said.
The plan also covers the development of robotics, AI and the Internet of Things, which allows data transferring among devices via networks like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, in TVET innovative centers nationwide.
Technical and professional-level training courses would also be introduced in the near future in cybersecurity and in the creative industries, which Marcos said are “burgeoning industries knowing no territorial bounds.”
The Chief Executive described schools as “preeminent incubators of the innovative and creative energies of all Filipinos.”
“Statistics do not lie…With its high employability rate, TVET will definitely be instrumental in capacitating our people, and in maintaining our employment rate at consistently high levels,” he added.
Marcos: Filipino youth must be critical thinkers, problem-solvers
Marcos also highlighted the need to equip the Filipino youth with skills that would shape them as critical thinkers and problem-solvers.
“Recent assessments have revealed the reality that more than half of our grades 6, 10, and 12 students have failed to reach the ideal proficiency levels, faring low in information literacy, problem-solving and critical thinking skills,” he said.
“Our system of education must be strategically calibrated to make sure that our youth are not only taught to become literate. But, it must also consciously develop them into problem-solvers, and into critical thinkers.”
Based on the results of the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which tests the proficiency of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics and science, Filipino students were five to six years behind their peers from other participating countries.
The latest PISA results showed Filipino students attaining a score of 355 in mathematics, 347 in reading and 356 in science, lower than those from developed countries whose scores ranged from 500 to 560 points in each subject.
“Ito ngayon ang magiging hamon sa ating bagong Kalihim: na tiyakin ang pagbangon at pagtaas ng kalidad ng edukasyon sa bansa, sa lalong madaling panahon,” Marcos said.
(This is now the challenge of our new secretary: to ensure the improvement of the quality of education in the country in the near future.)
Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara began his term as education chief on July 18, a month after Vice President Sara Duterte resigned from her post as the agency’s previous secretary. F
