ISSN # 2244-5218
IS PUP READY FOR THE 2015 ASEAN INTEGRATION?
It is your first major quiz in the semester. You are late. You quickly took your bath and wore your uniform. You did not mind the breakfast in the table and said good bye to your mother. And now, you are waiting outside the house for a cab. As you rode inside, a chill rushed down to your neck. It’s because you remembered that you have your first major exam today. And this time, you are totally worried. As if Zeus has sent his thunderbolt to you, you skimmed the pages of the book and reviewed the lessons quickly. You regret the fact that you played Clash of Clans last night, and should have studied the lesson about History of Money instead. At last, you are now entering the room. Your teacher disappointedly handed you over the questionnaire. Your Singaporean classmate passed his paper, then the Thai and Malaysian buddies. You sat between your Vietnamese and Indonesian classmates and started answering the test. Just a few ticks and the time is up, but you’re still stuck on the paper, not knowing what to answer. And then the bell rings. Suddenly, you remember that you are a Filipino. The scenario above is likely to be our position in the 2015 ASEAN Integration. The 2015 ASEAN Integration is a result of the ASEAN 2020 Vision to build an ASEAN Community. ASEAN 2020 agreed on “a shared vision of ASEAN as a concert of Southeast Asian nations, outward looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development and in a community of caring
societies.” The leaders of the member countries decided to accelerate the regional integration to 2015, to highlight ASEAN’s centrality and to make sure that ASEAN remains the driving force in maintaining the evolving regional environment. The 2015 ASEAN Integration is planned to have good objectives, however, are we prepared for it? For educators and students, education is our main concern here. What is our stand in the upcoming change in our system? We have to first solve the challenges on our way to cope up. If not, when the integration takes place, we would be eaten alive by our neighbors. We would be like the Filipino student in the story beaten by his foreign classmates because he was not fully prepared for the examination. Though this is already our battle cry, investment in education would be a great start. There is a continuous effort in the government and some private institutions to strengthen the educational ground, like the incorporation of the K to 12 curriculum in our schools and the shifting of academic calendars of some universities and colleges in the country, but it is not enough. Looking at the world rankings of our universities and colleges, only some are included like the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila, De La Salle University, and University of Santo Tomas. And yet, our bests are not the best in the world stage. They lie far below in the list. To take
note, the last three are private universities. The tuition fees in these universities cannot be afforded by the common Juan de la Cruz. If the government would just add funds to our State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), maybe then we can see improvements. Lack of funds would mean lack of resources in educating our young people. Professionals would not mind going abroad to seek greener pastures instead of imparting their knowledge here in the country. Facilities in SUCs, not all, but mostly are old and not in accordance with the state-of-the -art level, unlike with private ones which can buy the latest model for the needs of their students and this should be improved. If not, we would not be able to train and hone well, making them less competitive in the global scene. What more to those who need an intensive effort in education? Top universities in Southeast Asia are public schools, unlike in the Philippines. In short, some of the private universities and colleges in the country offer a more diverse education than SUCs.
equipment needed in their investigatory projects. Collaboration of SUCs and private higher education institutions should be strengthened. Interests of both parties can be addressed. Competition is present among universities and colleges, all aiming to be the best in the country. This creates a barrier among us. What if we could work together and aim to be the bests of the country? Partnerships should be promoted by both sides. This idea is no longer new, but we have to put more of our attention here. Our differences can be covered up by helping each other. Though we are archipelagic geographically, we can be united in our educational sector by this partnership between publics and privates. The top university in Southeast Asia now is the National University of Singapore with very competitive educational courses and curricula. However, the Philippines can be on top too, if we will act together and it is not the government’s sole obligation, but also ours, the school body portrays an important role in preparing for the 2015 ASEAN Integration. Our country once led our region, we can do it again.
Maybe the problem is not really about the availability, but accessibility to the funds because Commission on Higher Education (CHED) regional director Catherine Castañeda said that the money is alWe have to face these challenges ways available. Then, what takes it so long in order to rise up. We have to put our atfor them to allocate it to SUCs hungry for tention to the definition of our programs. it? We need to work these programs in our Creation and discovery of new advantage so we would be able to address our problems and develop our potentials. knowledge through research in the country is not that outstanding compared to our With this, we can achieve excellence and neighboring countries. “As a country, we competitiveness. We are Filipinos; we do only produce 600 papers while in Singa- not turn our back to things like this. With pore, one university alone produces thou- our firm faith in God and good characterissands,” Ateneo de Manila University Presi- tics, we can show them how we can excel in dent Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin said. There is a every field. need for us to produce competitive research papers and studies. Again, lack of funds is an issue again. Support for our higher educational institutions is badly needed, for we are nearly at the bottom when it comes to research explorations. When funding is right, we can send our professionals, students, and administrators to quality trainings and conferences. We can provide them the right facilities and
If we do not want to end up like in the story, we should act now. We should discover ways on how we would adapt in the new system. We would know the things that we need to improve and potentials that we need to develop. At the end of the day, whether we like it or not, this integration will happen. The best way to welcome it is to prepare for it. (Mark Jeremy P.
Esquejo)
SPIN conducts CWTS Orientation for freshmen students Prof. Richard W. Dacalos conducted an orientation for freshmen students taking up Community Welfare Training Service (CWTS) this academic year on July 18, 19 and 23 at the MultiPurpose Hall of the university. It was organized by the interns and coaches of SPIN (Social Play and Innovation Network), and intended to give an experiential activity for his students.
The said activity discusses a wellimproved design for students’ activities. Whereas, students will pick one organization in which they will work with it until the semester ends. Such organizations are: CWTS Team, ICE (Integrity, Community and Excellence), Check My School, Bantay.PH, SE (Social Enterprise) Research, SE Club, Lifebox, Temp Organizers, Temp Collectors and the River Clean-Up.
Students also experienced It started at exactly 9:15 in the signing up for their desired organization morning, as Prof. Dacalos reminds evethrough ActUpOn, an offline webpage ryone that, “This is college; you are not wherein their names, courses and a high school student anymore. So be chosen organizations are already responsible of your actions.” indicated. (Lorielle N. Lim)
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