Incoming President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. said he has reminded Vice President and incoming Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sara Duterte to look after the welfare of the teachers in the Philippines.

Marcos said this after Duterte unveiled that the President-elect directed her to review the implementation of the K-to-12 curriculum in the country.

In a press conference on Monday, Marcos said he did not want to preempt Duterte, but reminded her to prioritize the welfare of teachers.

“Ang aking laging pinapaalala sa kanya is ‘yung mga teacher. Kailangan alalayan ang mga teacher, kailangan i-training ang mga teacher para maganda ang maging trabaho nila [My constant reminder to her is the teachers. The teachers need to be guided, the teachers need to be given training so their jobs would be done better],” he said.

According to Marcos, apart from being given sufficient salaries and benefits, teachers would need other types of support such as skills training, teaching supplies, and equipment.

“I’m very confident that as long as we have a program in place to support our teachers, not only in terms of benefits but of course that’s an important part of it… But also in terms of other support, in terms of the training, in terms of the supplies, equipment… We have to do a lot to recover our very good grading before,” he said.

Marcos said that he and Duterte talked about the many issues that need to be reassessed in the country’s educational system such as the medium of instruction and the K-to-12 program, among others.

He added that there is a need to recover the country’s “good grading” in education before.

“We have to do a lot to recover our very good grading before. ‘Pag ka tayo tinitignan ng Asia, ‘yung literacy rate, ‘yung pagsalita ng Ingles, pati sa Science, sa Math, mataas tayo noon eh. Kailangan natin balikan ‘yan. Mahirap mag-compete kung hindi natin ayusin yung training ng mga kabataan natin [When we are assessed among Asia, the literacy rate, the English-speaking skills, as well as the skills in Science and Math, we have high ratings. We need to bring that back. It’s hard to compete if we will not improve the training of our youth], Marcos said.

Photo Credit: Facebook/BongbongMarcos