- Senator Sherwin Gatchalian clarified that the proposed three-year college program aims to ease financial strain on Filipino families, not reduce government spending.
- The Three-Year College Education Act tasks CHED with reviewing degree programs to streamline them, focusing earlier on specialization and internships.
- General education subjects, including courses like PE, would be shifted to senior high school to reduce redundancy and education costs.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian explained that the drive to shorten college study to three years is not for government expense reduction but for alleviating the economic burden to Filipino families. Hindi natin ito ginawa para magtipid ang gobyerno. Ginawa natin ito para makapagtipid ang mga magulang, Gatchalian stated in a Super Radyo dzBB interview on Sunday, adding that the idea is to reduce parents' expenses for school-related purposes.
He clarified that transportation, dormitory charges, and project and field trip requirements are expenses that add up over time. The senator also asked why certain college subjects appear to recycle subjects taken in previous years of schooling, citing physical education (PE) as an example. "PE is an example na binabayaran ng magulang ng four semesters", he explained, saying that time and money can instead be utilized on courses in the student's chosen field.
The plan is encapsulated in the senator's priority bill the Three-Year College Education Act presented during the 20th Congress. It charges the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) with the task of examining degree courses to possibly condense them into not more than three years of study.
General education courses would be incorporated into senior high school, per the bill, so that students can concentrate on internships and specialized training earlier in their studies.
