Rep. Jose Francisco “Kiko” Benitez (Neg. Occ. 3rd District) urged the academic sector to adopt the “lifelong-learning model” to elevate the education system while addressing the impacts of digitalization and the COVID-19 pandemic in Negros Occidental.

Benitez, in his speech during the Lasallian Education Symposium at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City on Tuesday, July 18, said that there is a need to adapt and address the evolving digital landscape, traditional models of education, and learning deficiency due to the pandemic.

The symposium provided a platform for crucial discussions on the future of education in Negros Occidental and the country, a press release from his office said.

Benitez urged the members of the academe to embrace the changes and adapt a pedagogy to suit the evolving landscape as artificial intelligence and social media are already factors that shape the way we live and work.

He also said that there is a need to recover from the learning setback due to the pandemic to ensure the future workforce remains competitive.

“There has been an increase in mental health issues as young as grade school and high school which of course intensifies if it is not dealt with and accumulates over time as they get older”, he also said.

With these problems, he suggested embracing the fourth industrial revolution, strengthening the academe-industry link, and adopting a lifelong learning model.

A lifelong-learning approach includes exploring micro-credentialing, modularization, and smooth transitions between formal and informal education, he said.

“We must begin to think in terms of cultivating the entirety of the human from prenatal to post-graduate and in work,” he said.

“The Philippine education system should take seriously a lifelong-learning model, and explore as many modalities as that might entail”, he added.*