Sanctions urged on universities, colleges that perform poorly

Colleges and universities whose graduates show low percentages of passing board and bar examinations must either be disciplined or phased out, said former agriculture secretary Salvador Escudero III during a recent forum at the 77th general assembly of the Foundation for Upgrading the Standard of Education (FUSE).

"It is criminal to allow schools that do not produce bonafide professionals to continue to operate," he said.

With data on the performance of colleges and universities in board exams from the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC), he criticized commerce and law schools that have not produced certified public accountants or lawyers from their founding up to the present.

Fr. Onofre Inocencio, a FUSE member, suggested that the problem dwells on the quality of teacher training that the country has, producing teachers whose skills and ability to impart learning is questionable.

Former education secretary Brother Andrew Gonzales proposed that schools should start to recruit engineers or science majors to teach science and mathematics since they are better equipped and more adept on these subjects rather than graduates of education."

"Recruit these people and organize a program where they can fulfill the 18 units needed by civil service on education," Gonzales advised.

Sharing Gonzales’ view, University of the Philippines (UP) President Francisco Nemenzo who was the guest speaker for the meeting, added that colleges and universities which are "the breeding ground for brain workers" must also focus on helping upgrade the elementary and high school education.

"There is nothing we can do to upgrade our university education kung bulok yung base," he said.

Giving credit to former cabinet member Edgardo Angara who passed the bill raising the salaries of public school teachers, Nemenzo theorized that the recent passing of a good number of public school students of the UPCAT could have been a consequence of the said bill.

Founded in 1994 by industrialist Lucio Tan with Escudero and Angara, FUSE is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, which aims to elevate and maintain a high standard of education for Filipino students.

FUSE, since inception, has sponsored workshops and teacher-training programs and created Constel of the Continuing Studies Via Television, a multimedia approach in teaching English, mathematics and science. Teaching these subjects, Nemenzo noted, needs improvement because they are the bases for the development of science and technology.

He congratulated FUSE and hoped that it would be the firecracker that will jolt educators out of complacency.

Underscoring the fact that knowledge is the commodity that commands the highest value in the global market today, the UP president advised that the country must transcend its mediocre system of education.