‘Fix basic education before 3-year college’

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July 9, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Fixing the basic education system should be prioritized by the government before trimming undergraduate years, according to the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (Cocopea).

Graduates will not be ready for work if a three-year college education, as proposed by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, is implemented, Cocopea legal counsel Joseph Noel Estrada told dzBB.

“Fellow private education institutions in Cocopea were surprised as the issue was mostly senior high school (SHS) and the K-12,” he noted.

“Suddenly, there is a new perspective, to lessen the number of years in college. Our initial sentiment is that there is a need to first study the proposal. We are not ready for it,” Estrada said.

SHS graduates are not even ready for college, he asserted.

“We really need to check the curriculum. We need to have curricular reform,” he said.

Gatchalian’s bill would integrate general education courses at the SHS level.