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Quezon City

ANG 0 3 2022 ar

First Regular Session

House Bill No. 3130

Introduced by Representative Jernie Jett V. Nisay

EXPLANATORY NOTE

In 2013, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
spearheaded the first international Conference on Learning Cities. The concept of a learning
city was developed and defined as “a city which effectively mobilizes its resources in every
sector to a) promote inclusive learning from basic to higher education; b) revitalize learning in
families and communities; ¢) facilitate learning for and in the workplace; d) extend the use of
modern learning technologies; e) enhance quality and excellence in learning; and f) foster a
culture of learning throughout life.""

The participants of the conference adopted the belief that lifelong learning is the key to
a sustainable and developed society. Awareness was raised that because social, economic and
political landscapes are constantly changing, learning must be continuous, lifelong, and life-
wide. The citizens must be regularly equipped with varying and shifting capacities necessary
for living and working including literacy and basic skills; professional development and
vocational skills; community engagement and active citizenship.

This bill seeks to introduce lifelong learning by providing guidelines for the mandatory
establishment of leaming cities nationwide and providing benefits for the successfully compliant
cities.

Support for this bill is thereby earnestly requested from my colleagues.

RNI V. NISAY
Pusong Pinoy Partylist

1 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Key Features of
Learning Cities (Beijing: United Nations, 2013), available from
www.unesdoc. unesco.orglimages/0022/002267/226720e.pdf


Bwne

Republic of the Philippines
House of Representatives
Quezon City
NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No._ 3130 _

Introduced by R

fepresentative Jernie Jett V. Nisay

AN ACT
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE LIFELONG LEARNING DEVELOPMENT
FRAMEWORK, CREATING A LIFELONG LEARNING DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL,
AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as “The Lifelong Learning
Development Framework (LLDF) Act.”

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. — It is hereby declared the policy of the State
to create an environment free of poverty, hunger, violence, and war; and to ensure
equity, inclusion, and a healthy environment for everyone. To this end, the State shall
promote lifelong learning as a means to achieve a more sustainable
development and thus promote national security. The State shall promote universal
literacy and prescribe the duties of the State in this regard.

SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act:

a. Community Learning Center (CLC) refers to a venue outside the formal
education system established and managed by LGUs to provide lifelong learning
opportunities for community development and improvement of the quality of life;

b. Learning City or Municipality refers to a city or municipality which effectively
mobilizes its resources to: (a) promote inclusive learning in all education levels;
(b) encourage learning in families and communities; c) facilitate learning for and
in the workplace; d) extend the use of modern learning technologies; e) enhance
quality and pursuit of excellence in learning; and f) foster a culture of learning
throughout life;


c. Lifelong Educational Institution refers to any establishment, corporation,
organization, or public or private teaching institution established mainly for
lifelong education or providing lifelong vocational training, or offering
supplementary education for school curricula. It shall also refer to a center or
an office attached to an existing educational institution that offers lifelong
education to persons other than its regular students;

d. Lifelong Learning refers to a philosophy that recognizes learning as a
continuum and not confined to a particular period in life nor the school system
but takes place everywhere, at all stages of life. As a conceptual framework and
organizing principle for educational policy, lifelong learning, which is also known
as lifelong education, encompasses all modes of education and all types of
systematic educational activities other than regular school curriculum, including
supplementary education, graduate studies and all forms of continuing
education, basic literacy education for adults, ability enhancement education,
culture and art education, book reading clubs, and citizen's participation
education;

e. Literacy Education refers to a systematic educational program designed to
teach adults who are unable to read and write or lack the necessary skills
needed for early or basic literacy and other forms of media, digital, financial,
legal and health literacy; and

f) Tertiary Education refers to the stage of education following the secondary cycle
which covers post-secondary + nondegree — diploma, _technical-
vocational education and training, and higher education programs, including
graduate education.

SEC. 4. Lifelong Learning Development Framework. — A Lifelong Learning
Development Framework (LLDF), which shall describe and set standards for the
development of action components and desirable success measures for the
promotion and implementation of lifelong learning in cities, municipalities and lifelong
educational institutions, shall be established by the Lifelong Learning Development
Council created under this Act.

The LLDF shall have the following objectives:

a. Promote literacy at all levels of society;

b. Promote inclusive learning in the educational system;

c. Revitalize learning in families and communities;

d. Facilitate learning for and in the workplace;


e. Extend the use of modern learning technologies;

f. Enhance the quality of learning; and

g. Foster a culture of learning throughout life.

The action components and corresponding success measures shall include
the following:

a) Promotion of Literacy at all levels of society. - This component upholds the
importance of promoting literacy for all. The activities under this component shall
include those that ensure for every citizen the opportunity to become literate and
obtain basic skills. The corresponding success measure for this action component
shall be adult literacy rate.

b) Promotion of inclusive learning in the educational system. - No person
regardless of ability, gender and sexuality, social background, language, ethnicity,
religion or culture shall be excluded from participating in the educational system. The
activities under this component and their corresponding success measures shall
include the following:

1. Expanding access to early childhood care and education, with net
enrollment rate in pre-primary education, as success measure;

2. Expanding access to formal education from primary to tertiary level, with
average number of years of formal schooling received by people aged
twenty five (25) and older, as success measure;

3. Expanding access to and participation in adult education and technical-
vocational education and training, with percentage of citizens aged twenty
five to sixty four (25-64) who reported receiving education or training in the
twelve (12) months preceding the survey, as success measure;

4. Providing support for marginalized groups, including migrant families, to ensure
access to education, with the number or quality of measures adopted by the LGU
authorities to support learners from indigenous peoples and disadvantaged
backgrounds, as success measure; and

(5) Assigning qualified professional individuals to assist persons with disabilities to
be able to adapt and cope while being integrated in the education system, with
the number of leamers with disabilities who re-enroll or remain in schools, as
success measure.


¢) Revitalization of learning in families and communities. - Lifelong learning shall
not be confined to educational or business settings, but shall include learning within
families and local communities. This learning shall have the following activities and
corresponding success measures:

1. establishing community-based learning spaces and providing resources for
learning in families and communities, with the number of functional barangay-
based infrastructure or spaces dedicated to lifelong learning, as success
measure; and

(2) motivating people to participate in family and community learning, giving special
attention to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, such as families in need,
migrants, people with disabilities, minorities and third-age learners, with the
availability or presence of LGU legislation to support learning in families,
Percentage of community members participating in community learning activities
on a regular basis, and percentage of community members engaging in learning
activities in their families within twelve (12) months preceding the survey, as
success measure.

) Facilitation of learning for and in the workplace. ~ The following activities and
corresponding success measures shall fall under this component:

1. ensuring that all members of the workforce have access to a broad array of
learning opportunities, with employees’ participation rate in job-related
education and training, as success measure; and

(2) providing appropriate learning opportunities for unemployed youths and adults,
with percentage of the unemployed enrolled in various employment or
entrepreneurship training programs offered in the city or municipality, as success
measure.

e) Extension of the use of moder leaming technologies. - Cities or municipalities
shall enable alll citizens to use the information and communication technologies (ICT),
particularly the internet, for learning and self-empowerment. The activities and
corresponding success measures under this component shall include the following:

1. training administrators, teachers and educators to use technologies that
enhance learning, with the percentage of teachers or educators who have
received ICT training in the last twelve (12) months, as success measure;
and

(2) expanding citizens’ access to ICT tools and learning programs, with the
percentage of teachers or educators who use ICT on a regular basis for class
activities in schools and other lifelong learning spaces, as success measure.

f) Enhancement of quality learning. - The following activities and corresponding
success measures shall fall under this component:


1. promoting a paradigm shift from teaching to learning, and from the mere
acquisition of information to the development of creativity and learning skills,
with the presence of LGU initiatives to promote the development of creativity
and learning skills through the formal teaching curriculum, as success
measure;

2. employing appropriately trained administrators, teachers and educators,
with the availability of appropriately trained teachers or educators, as success
measure; and

(3) fostering an environment in which learners have, as far as practicable, ownership
of their own learning, with ratio of students to teachers in pre-primary, primary,
secondary, and adult and continuing education, as success measure.

g) Fostering of a culture of learning throughout life. - The following activities
and corresponding success measures shall fall under this component:

1. organizing and supporting public events that encourage and celebrate
learning, with the existence of public activities such as adult learning week
and learning festivals, and use of all media to promote and celebrate
learning, as success measure;

2. providing adequate information, guidance, and support to all citizens, and
stimulating them to learn through diverse pathways, with the percentage of
learners satisfied with the provision of information and counselling to
learners, as success measure; and

(3) acknowledging the importance of learning in informal and non-formal settings
and developing systems that recognize and reward all forms of learning, with
the availability of LGU ordinance and practice of recognizing, validating, and
accrediting all learning outcomes, as success measure.

h) Strengthening of political will and commitment. — Elected officials and
administrators shall have the primary responsibility of committing political resources
to realizing the vision of a learning city because it takes strong political will and
commitment to successfully build a leaming city or municipality. The following
activities and their corresponding success measures shall fall under this component:

1. demonstrating strong political leadership and making a steadfast
commitment to turning LGUs into learning cities, with the strength and
commitment of leadership demonstrated in developing and implementing
the learning city strategy as evidenced by qualitative validation, as success
measure;

2. developing and implementing well-grounded and participatory strategies
for promoting lifelong learning for all, through policies and strategies to

6


promote lifelong learning adopted by the city or municipal council, as
success measures; and

3. consistent monitoring of progress towards becoming a learning city or
municipality, with initiatives adopted by the local authorities to monitor
progress in developing and implementing the learning city or municipality
strategy, as success measures.

i. Improvement of governance and participation of all stakeholders. - All
sectors of society shall have a key role in learning and education and shall
participate in building learning cities or municipalities. The activities and
corresponding success measures under this component shall include the
following:

1. establishing inter-sectoral coordination mechanisms to _ involve
governmental and nongovernmental organizations and the private sector in
building learning cities or municipalities, with effectiveness to encourage
stakeholder mobilization and coordination in developing learning cities, as
success measure; and

(2) encouraging all stakeholders to provide quality learning opportunities and to
make their own unique contribution to building a learning city or municipality,
with stakeholders’ commitment, plans and actions to develop better and more
accessible learning opportunities within their areas of responsibility and the
existence of partnerships and cooperation between the city and the private
sectors to support the learning city strategy, as success measure.

j) Boosting of resource mobilization and utilization. - The following activities and
corresponding success measures shall fall under this component:

1. encouraging greater financial investment in lifelong learning by government,
civil society, private sector organizations and individuals, with public
expenditure on education and learning as a percentage of the total city
budget, percentage of public education expenditure spent at different levels
or types of education, as success measure;

2. making effective use of the learning resources of all stakeholders and
developing innovative funding mechanisms to support lifelong learning for
all, with innovative initiatives of mapping and utilizing human, financial,
cultural and other resources available to the city to facilitate learning in the
city, as success measure;

3. adopting pro-poor funding policies and providing various types of support to
disadvantaged groups, with the allocation and effective use of funds to support the
participation of disadvantaged groups in learning, as success measure;


4. encouraging citizens to contribute their talents, skills, knowledge and
experience on a voluntary basis, with the citizens’ contribution to helping
other citizens, as success measure; and

(5) encouraging the exchange of ideas, experiences and best practice between and
among organizations in different cities, with the number of international or inter
city partnerships and exchanges with other learning cities or municipalities or
lifelong learning institutions, as success measures.

The desired success measures for each component may be amended and
modified by the Lifelong Learning Development Council, as it may deem necessary.

SEC. 5. Lifelong Learning Development Council. - There is hereby created
a Lifelong Learning Development Council, hereinafter referred to as the Council, which
shall be under the Office of the President. It shall be composed of the Secretary of the
Department of Education (DepEd), as Chairperson, and with the following, as members:

a. Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG);

b. Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED); and

c. Director General of the Technical Education and Skills Development

Authority (TESDA).

The Chairperson and members of the Council may designate their respective
representatives to the Council, whose rank shall not be lower than Assistant Secretary
or its equivalent.

SEC. 6. Powers and Functions of the Council. The Council shall have the

following specific powers and functions:

a. Formulate, implement, review, and amend the LLDF, including the action
components and success measures for the effective implementation of this Act;

b. Designate a particular city or municipality as a Learning City or Municipality
based on its proven capacity to carry out the component activities and attain
the success measures;

c. Develop guidelines for using the action components to assess if a city or
municipality will qualify for designation as a learning city or municipality;


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d. Formulate a master plan, in consultation with other relevant government
agencies, for the promotion of lifelong learning and the designation of
learning cities or municipalities, and to implement or execute the same;

e. Review the master plan and work with the LGUs in the mandatory
implementation and execution of the master plan;

f. Organize a secretariat and determine the staffing pattern, qualifications,
duties and responsibilities of the secretariat, as well as the compensation
for the positions to be created in accordance with the existing rules and
regulations of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and Republic Act No.
11466 or the “Salary Standardization Law (SSL) of 2019”;

g. Submit annually to the Office of the President, the Senate of the
Philippines, and the House of Representatives an updated report on the
progress and accomplishments in relation to the LLDF; and

h. Perform such other functions that may be related to the implementation of
the LLDF.

SEC. 7. Council Secretariat. The Council shall organize a secretariat to be
headed by a Chief of Office. The Council shall determine the staffing pattern,
qualifications, duties and responsibilities of the secretariat, as well as the
compensation for the positions to be created in accordance with the existing rules
and regulations of the CSC and the SSL.

The secretariat shall hold office at such place as may be determined by the
Council. Pending the formal organization of the secretariat, the Council members may
designate personne! from their respective offices to temporarily discharge the
functions of the secretariat.

SEC. 8. Lifelong Learning Master Plan. - Within six (6) months from the
effectivity of this Act, the Council shall draw a master plan for the promotion of lifelong
learning and the designation of learning cities or municipalities.

‘The master plan shall be subject to review every five (5) years and shall include
the following:

a. Medium and long-term policy objectives and basic direction for lifelong learning
promotion and the establishment of learning cities or municipalities;

b. Implementation of lifelong learning activities and guidelines for the funding
of lifelong educational institutions;


c. Investment plans and budgetary requirements for the promotion and
expansion of lifelong educational institutions and learning cities or
municipalities; and

d. Guidelines for the evaluation of lifelong education programs and learning
cities or municipalities.

The Council may consult other relevant government agencies in the
formulation of the master plan. It shall also work with the LGUs in the mandatory
implementation and execution of the master plan.

SEC. 9. Designation of Learning Cities or Municipalities. - The Council shall
designate a city or municipality as a Learning City or Learning Municipality based on
its proven capacity to carry out the component activities and attain the success
measures in accordance with the provisions of this Act. It shall also develop guidelines
for using the action components to assess if a city or municipality may qualify for
designation as a learning city or municipality.

A designated Learning City or Municipality shall enjoy additional support and
funding for the following:
a. Establishment and operation of lifelong educational institutions;

b. Cultivation and posting of certified lifelong education teachers;

c. Development of lifelong education programs;

d. Establishment of CLCs; and

e. Other projects to be conducted for the promotion of citizens’ participation in

lifelong education.

SEC. 10. Functions of Learning Cities or Municipalities. - Heads of LGUs
designated as Learning Cities or Municipalities, in coordination with the Council, shall
be required to guide and support activities for the promotion of lifelong learning, whether
initiated by the LGU or private lifelong educational institutions. If requested by such
institutions, the LGU shall, in coordination with the Council, conduct trainings necessary
to upgrade the capabilities of persons and institutions engaged in lifelong learning
activities.

The LGUs designated as Learning Cities or Municipalities are likewise mandated

to comply with the following:

a. Provide opportunities, counseling, and information on lifelong learning;


b. Support the operation of lifelong learning programs;

c. Establish and operate CLCs to foster the implementation of lifelong
educational programs and provide all persons, especially the
underprivileged, access to information and communications technologies for
e-learning, blended, distance or open learning; and

d) Provide lifelong learning opportunities for residents within their jurisdictions.

SEC. 11. Support and Subsidy for Lifelong Educational Institutions. - The
heads of educational institutions offering lifelong learning shall submit an annual report
to the appropriate government agency which has jurisdiction over them, detailing the
programs offered, number of attendees, and other relevant data necessary to assess
the success of the lifelong learning program.

The LGU shall appropriate an amount to ensure and guarantee that lifelong
learning in its jurisdiction shall be free and accessible to all residents, including
migrants, senior citizens and people with disabilities. For purposes of this Act, such
amount shall be taken from the Special Education Fund (SEF) under Republic Act
No. 7160, otherwise known as the “Local Government Code of 1991”. The appropriate
government agency shall include in its annual budget the necessary amount to
subsidize the continued operation of lifelong educational institutions and other related
activities.

SEC. 12. Literacy Education Programs. - The State and the LGUs shall
endeavor to enhance basic capabilities including literacy for adults. Literacy
education programs for adults shall be offered in designated schools within the
learning cities or municipalities nationwide, in coordination with the Literacy
Coordinating Council created under Republic Act No. 7165, as amended by Republic
Act No. 10122, entitled "An Act Strengthening the Literacy Coordinating Council by
Amending Republic Act No. 7165, Otherwise Known as "An Act Creating the Literacy
Coordinating Council, Defining its Powers and Functions, Appropriating Funds
Therefor and for Other Purposes”.

SEC. 13. Lifelong Learning in Private Enterprises. - Private corporations,
institutions, workplaces and other similar establishments are encouraged to provide
lifelong learning to their employees, conduct activities for its promotion, and give
consideration to employees who enroll in graduate studies or in any form of lifelong
learning and continuing education by allowing revised schedules and workloads
without necessarily sacrificing the quality of work.

The employers are also encouraged to provide scholarships and incentives to
their employees who wish to pursue lifelong learning activities.

SEC. 14. Guidelines. - The following guidelines shall be respected at all
times:


a. Allcitizens shall be guaranteed equal opportunities for lifelong learning;

b. Lifelong learning shall be conducted based on the willingness of the
learner to participate and study voluntarily; and

c. Lifelong learning shall not be exploited as a tool for political propaganda
or personal prejudices.

SEC. 15. Appropriations. - The amount necessary for the immediate
implementation of this Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations
Act.

SEC. 16. Implementing Rules and Regulations.- Within sixty (60) days from
the approval of this Act, the DepEd, CHED and TESDA shall, in coordination with the
DILG and other concerned government agencies and civil society organizations,
formulate and issue the necessary rules and regulations to implement the provisions
of this Act.

SEC. 17. Separability Clause. — |f, for any reason, any part or provision of this
Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the remaining parts or provisions not
affected shall remain in full force and effect.

SEC. 18. Repealing Clause. - Section 272 of Republic Act No. 7160 shall be
amended to include the purpose of this Act to the allocation of the SEF. All laws,
presidential decrees, executive orders, rules and regulations contrary to or
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 19. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved.