Name: Mary Kristine D.

Sesno Date Submitted: July 4, 2023

Course/Section: GED 716 Professor: Dr. Alexander C. Balocba

How to reverse the triangle?

In an article written by Rina Lyn B. Tolentino in the Sun.Star Pampanga about the impact
of the 1992 congressional commission on Education (EDCOM), the recommendation is to
reform the educational system into three government agencies. Tolentino, an educator, clearly
explains the mandates and principles of the three government bodies: first, the Commission of
Higher Education (CHED), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA), and lastly, the Department of Education (DEped). The idea of these three government
bodies is to produce highly globally competitive and responsible citizens of our country; this
concept brings a very interesting and relevant discourse to the political and legal issues of
trifocalization in our nation, especially the idea to unify the sector again and have one central
agency. According to the former secretary, Leonor Briones, the system was created at a time
when many countries, especially in Southeast Asia, were doing it, and she also said that it was a
very sensitive topic to discuss because and it was a "painful and messy process”. Furthermore,
the commissionaire, Prospero De Vera of the CHED, mentioned that it is "politically difficult”.
He believed that, although it is a genuine issue to consider combining them, it will be messy and
politically divisive, and perhaps it would be better to focus on our resources, and more pressing
challenges in educational reform rather than trying to reunite disparate institutions (Hernado-
Malipot, 2021). These two contrasting ideas captured my attention and intrigued my curiosity
about how our system works when the leaders have opposite viewpoints; however, if we look
back on Tolentino's perception of trifocalization is a very ideal and effective system for our
learners. So which point of view was convincing? For me, this is very important to know because
my primary objectives are to be part of the solution that our educational system encounters.

In Tolentino's article, the importance of the three separate angles of the education sector
is discussed: the focus and alignment of the curriculum; the departments activities are more
centralized; producing quality and globally competitive graduates; the three learning domains
were set by the standard according to the learner’s capacity; and the perfect allocation of the
funds. Last but not least, the effectiveness of the implementation of the programs, projects, and
activities is highly possible due to the right and perfect personnel. With an essential and idealistic
system of trifocalization, the government can produce holistic learners who can be productive
citizens. I, as an educator, like the writer, and after reading her article, it made me think that
trifocalization in fact helps us produce productive learners by giving a focus to their intelligence
and capabilities and setting the standard based on the learner’s capacity. The division of funding
is also made easier by the trifocalization system. Running one big agency would bring headaches
and endless arguments, but in the Angle system, it was avoided. But any reform in a system has a
downside. Tolentino's point of view was very idealistic; she perceived that our education sector
was strong and developed enough to handle the trifocalization, not realizing that the 21st century
educational system faces inevitable challenges such as increasing dropout and absence rates,
deteriorating teacher shortages, and a persistent lack of resources, which is an undeniable
problem that the 1994 system didn't have (Reyes, Hamid, & Hardy, 2022).
 Tolentino's article grows my perceptions about the goodness that comes from the
trifocalization of Education management, and furthermore, it helped me realize that when the
government created Republic Act No. 7722 (the Higher Education Act) and Republic Act No.
7796 (An Act creating the TESDA), they saw that the learners were the vital element for the
development and progress of our nations if we were still in the 1994 EDCOM conventions.
Many of our leaders and lawmakers still believe in the idea of separating educational
management can help learners compete globally, but we are a decade behind those who have
implemented it. I just really hope and eagerly pray that the current administration is also aware
of the drastic academic crisis brought on by the pandemic. That the current situation of the
management of education, the triangle system, somehow can be reversed and become the
inverted triangle, where the learners are the top priority and give the solution to the learning gap.
It is possible, according to Reyes et al. (2022), that reforms make things worse by putting the
wrong leader in charge of the system and that a leader cannot respond to the learners needs. The
research reveals a need for more circumspect reform, particularly in distributed leadership, where
even the stakeholders are involved. When we reverse the triangle to the inverted one, the leaders,
the educators, and the learners, together with their parents, become part of the trifocalization of
education management. I think this would be the great viewpoint of trifocalization of education
management that can fit to Tolentino’s idea.

References:

Hernado-Malipot, M. (2021, August 15). National News: Back as one? Education executives
weigh in on the issues of trifocalization. Retrieved from Manila Bulletin:
https://mb.com.ph/2021/08/14/back-as-one-education-executives-weigh-in-on-the-issue-
of-trifocalization/
Reyes, V. C., Hamid, O., & Hardy, I. (2022). When reforms make things worse: school
leadership responses to poverty, disasters, and cultures of crises in the Philippine
education system. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 331-344.
Tolentino, R. L. (2020, September 16). Sun.Star Pampanga. Retrieved from Pressreader:
https://www.pressreader.com/