Some 500 stakeholders will gather on November 3 and 4 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City for the 2016 Education Summit to tackle the urgent concerns of the education sector and define the vision and agenda of basic, higher and technical-vocational education in the country.

Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said that the upcoming event is a follow through to the recent (sectoral) Social Development Initiatives Summit held in Davao City that aimed to flesh out the social development agenda of the administration.

The outcome of the Education Summit will be the education sector’s input to the next Philippine Development Plan.

“Through this summit, we hope to lay down a clear roadmap that will make education accessible, relevant and liberating,” Briones emphasized.

Part of the 10-point socio-economic agenda of the Duterte administration is to increase spending in basic education and incorporate mandatory education about the evils of drugs. According to Briones, another key focus of the Department of Education (DepEd) is to intensify and expand the Alternative Learning System (ALS).

Among the issues to be discussed in the summit are:

The K to 12 Curriculum and its support system, as well as ALS and its equivalencies, will also be taken up.

“We prepared a comprehensive agenda for this summit to ensure that all issues and challenges are adequately addressed to allow the trifocal education system to really move forward,” Briones explained.

Aside from Briones, other key personalities who will take center stage in the summit are Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairperson Patricia Licuanan, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Director Guiling Mamondiong.

The heads of the three education agencies will share their respective agenda for the education sector, taking into consideration the mandates of the constitution, laws and international commitments, and the directions they have set for their respective agencies.