Teachers

Our educational system has many weaknesses. Perhaps the most important of them is a weak teaching corps.

- ALEX MAGNO

Next year, our students will once again be taking the Program for International Assessment (PISA) tests. The next round of assessments is expected to focus on competence in the sciences.

The last few rounds of this assessment have been embarrassing for us. Our students rank among the world's weakest in math, reading, science and creative thinking. These are precisely the skills necessary for our people to thrive in the new global economy. Currently, nine out of 10 young Filipino learners struggle with basic reading skills.

Southeast Asia is expected to be the global epicenter for information technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI). Billions of dollars of new investments are flowing into our neighboring economies to build strong technology infrastructure. Among the leading beneficiaries of these investments are Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.

Even as we contemplate reforms to rehabilitate our decrepit educational system, we are losing out to our neighbors. Large investments in modern manufacturing are expected to move from China to neighboring economies, given concerns over the possible effects of higher tariffs on Chinese-made goods imposed by the incoming Trump II administration. We will miss yet another wave of investment transfers even as we sit in the world's most dynamic economic region.