Educating Gloria
IT DOESN'T add up. The announcement that Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri has been named "education czar" is like an equation missing a variable.The official line is that Neri's temporary transfer to the Commission on Higher Education this week is a sign of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's resolve to fix worsening problems in the education sector. We think it is the exact opposite: It reflects, not the President's resolve, but her irresolution.We do not question Neri's qualifications; aside from handling the economic planning and budget portfolios, he has also served as high-profile head of the Congressional Planning and Budget Office and, as he reminded reporters the other day, a professor at the Asian Institute of Management for 16 years. He also seems to have the President's ear, a not invaluable advantage for someone poised to shake up the government bureaucracy.
But all the same, his appointment raises more questions than it provides answers. Consider the following:
Earlier this month the President issued Executive Order 632, which created the position of a presidential assistant to "assess, plan and monitor the entire educational system." (Curiously, EO 632 is not immediately available online, from the otherwise impressive archive operated by the Office of the Press Secretary.) The new position has, naturally enough, been described as the office of a virtual education czar, but Neri insists he is not the new presidential assistant contemplated in the EO.
Neri says he has been asked to fix a specific problem, albeit one that has grown to crisis proportions. "We have too many unemployed college graduates," Neri said the other day, numbering "about one million." His task is to fix the "mismatch" between what the country's colleges graduate and what the country's companies employ. "We want to make sure the college graduates are matched with the requirements of the industry," he said.
This is an enormous--and necessary--undertaking; we are not sure, however, whether it is up to the CHEd to fix the problem. No doubt, the CHEd has a major role to play in reengineering the curriculum, for example, or in creating a program to turn entire colleges around, so that the degree programs they offer match the jobs available in the market. But what about the million college graduates who are already unemployed? They are the crisis; what can Neri, as CHEd chairman, do for them?
Neri was named CHEd chairman vice Carlito Puno, a long-time official who seems to have been completely left out of the loop. Reached by reporters last week, Puno refused to comment on Neri's impending takeover, saying the appointment papers had not been signed. Now the Arroyo administration is not exactly known for treating formerly useful appointees with the highest respect, but surely, if a new crisis in education does exist, shouldn't it have taken great care to ensure that an outgoing official did not, inadvertently, undermine the case it was making? As it is, the ruffled feathers and rush to publicity in Neri's new "special assignment" suggest the whole thing is just another politically motivated rigodon.
And if it is a crisis, isn't there anyone in the private sector, of sufficient stature and undeniable competence, who can help the President fix it? If education is truly one of the President's priorities, isn't it possible for her to recruit into the Cabinet a prominent personality who can serve, full time, as education czar? Indeed, instead of appointing the new presidential assistant for education, why not reconsolidate the functions of CHEd, the Department of Education and such agencies as Tesda under one office? If Education Secretary Jesli Lapus is doing a good job, why not get him to run the entire education sector?
Neri also says his transfer is merely temporary. "I have to go back after six months, hoping I can do my job properly," he said. Frankly, this sounds bizarre. If a crisis exists, how on earth can it be resolved by a troubleshooter with a six-month window of opportunity? Like we said: It doesn't add up.
