It’s time to reimagine Philippine education

As the second Congressional Commission on Education (EdCom II) enters its final year, it may be worth pausing to ask: Will it be remembered for helping shape the soul and aspirations of Philippine education, or simply as a taskmaster that managed policies without inspiring deeper change?

The moment calls for this question: What kind of Filipinos do we hope to nurture through our education system? One of EdCom II’s earliest and most revealing moves was to support the discontinuance of mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE). For many educators and researchers, this decision seems to run counter to decades of evidence and international experience, as well as the constitutional promise that children have the right to learn in a language they understand.

We also note proposals to remove Humanities, Filipino, and Social Sciences subjects in the name of streamlining. While efficiency has its place, we hope this won’t come at the cost of depth. These subjects play a key role in helping students become reflective, ethical, and socially engaged citizens.

The public is not watching quietly. A petition for certiorari, prohibition, and injunction was filed at the Supreme Court on June 30, 2025, to stop the implementation of Republic Act No. 12027, which makes MTB-MLE optional. The petitioners comprise a diverse group, including deaf advocates, parents, teachers, indigenous peoples, linguists, and academics.

To be fair, EdCom II has taken on important issues like mental health, early childhood care, and lifelong learning. These are commendable efforts. But without a broader and more coherent vision—one that embraces our history, language, and cultural diversity—reform risks becoming fragmented, even hollow. So far, EdCom II has yet to directly challenge the enduring colonial and top-down education system.

Perhaps it’s time to reimagine education not just as a pathway to employment, but as a space where we reflect on who we are as Filipinos—individually and collectively—in light of the complex realities of our world. Education should help us make sense of our past, understand our present, and imagine a better future. In the end, education must do more than prepare people to fit into the world as it is—it must help them shape the world as it could be. It should awaken a sense of collective identity, agency, and responsibility.