NCAE should not be mandatory

By Alliance of Volunteer Educators
April 3, 2007

QUEZON CITY, Philippines  –  The Alliance of Volunteer Educators (AVE), the party-list organization for the education sector, is opposed to the reported plan of the Department of Education to make the National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) as a mandatory prerequisite for post-secondary education by school year 2009-2010.

Asked to comment on a published report attributed to Education Secretary Jesli Lapus who was quoted as saying that students should first hurdle the NCAE to prequalify for higher education, AVE party-list Rep. Eulogio “Amang” R, Magsaysay said the choice of what career path to take should be left to the discretion of the students.

“While the NCAE may be a good program to guide students in choosing the college courses that match their talents and abilities, they should be free to decide whether to pursue professional careers or technical/vocational education,” Magsaysay said, adding that since the youth have the right to equal access to education, they should also have the right to decide for them selves on their own course preferences.

The party-list solon suggested that DepEd should instead find ways and means of improving the quality of teaching techniques in schools for students to acquire better the knowledge imparted to them by their teachers.