William Dar’s Message To Alma Mater ISPSC – “Partner With Government To Usher PH Development”

I am inventing an area for helping develop my country the Philippines – Education for Development (Ed4D), which explains the above title. [The acronym considers another area, Extension for Development (Ex4D), coming up!]

Facebook sharing of Aida Page: On 23 July 2021, in his message, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar challenged the Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College (ISPSC) celebrating the first-year anniversary of Gilbert Arce as ISPSC President. (The Facebook post did not say in which of the 6 campuses of ISPSC that it happened: Candon City, Cervantes, Narvacan, Santiago, Santa Maria, Tagudin – all in Ilocos Sur. I will assume here that it was Santa Maria because that is where Mr Dar was born.)
(ISPSC logo[1] from Facebook)

Mr Dar’s challenge to all campuses and alumni of ISPSC was: “Partner with the government in pushing for economic stability and usher development (for the Philippines) to be able to compete with other countries.”

In his anniversary message, Mr Dar “urged the state college to realign its directions towards improving economic development and (thereby reducing) poverty not only in the province, but in the region as well.”

Mr Dar also challenged Mr Arce and the rest of the ISPSC Family of Campuses “to work towards transforming the institution from teaching into a research college.” I understand that to mean not necessarily to decrease its teaching load but to increase its research portfolio in terms of quantity and quality. Aha, research for development (R4D)!

“(He) cited advanced and emerging countries that have invested so much in research and innovation.” (The sharing did not list the countries either. You don’t have to look far. I think among the 10 Asean member-countries – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam – the Philippines is struggling when it comes to research for development; even while the United States’ science presence in this country has been in the last 100+ years.

“Do not be contented (with) acquiring Intellectual Property Rights, although it’s a good indication that you are doing something. But it must not be the end result. Always see to it that the technologies that you have produced are used and adopted by farmers.”

He elevated his challenge to all “higher education institutions in the country to follow the pathway towards the realization of being a research institution to improve food productivity levels and help in the development of Philippine agriculture.”

As head of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and as a high school alumnus of ISPSC, “He also committed to continue supporting ISPSC and vowed to provide assistance in transforming it into one of the best institutions for agriculture and rural development.” I know Mr Dar well enough to say he is not favoring ISPSC among the state colleges & universities in the country; this is his way of thanking his alma mater.

2 added lessons: Lockdown or not, the best medium to teach now is? Digital. The best medium to help develop agriculture is? Digital. Then we all can learn anytime, anyplace, anywhere!@517


[1]https://www.facebook.com/ISPSCTagudinCampusTagudinIlocosSur/

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