The administration of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) clarifies that it will not dissolve the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (BECEd) and the Bachelor of Special Needs Education (BSNEd) programs under the College of Education (CED), contrary to unverified reports.
“We hope this provides assurance to members of the CED community,” he added.
The issue originated from a clerical difference in the name of the undergraduate degree programs as approved by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
In March 2015, PLM applied for a Certificate of Program Compliance (COPC) for the courses Bachelor of Elementary Education major in Pre-school Education and Bachelor of Elementary Education major in Special Education. However, in 2017, CHED Memorandum Orders No. 76 and 77 prescribed the renaming of these programs into what is now the BECEd and the BSNEd, respectively. PLM made the necessary changes by renaming the older degree programs in compliance with the 2017 order.
Eventually, CHED issued the COPC – which is the basis of availing free tuition through Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education or UniFAST – bearing the old name of the CED programs (Bachelor of Elementary Education major in Pre-school Education and Special Education), which is where the issue regarding program accreditation stemmed from.
Following a series of consultations and meetings with stakeholders, PLM resolved that it will keep the existing BECEd and BSNEd programs to avoid any disruptions and will instead appeal to CHED to update the COPCs to reflect the new program titles as it earlier prescribed.
The University will provide further updates as deemed necessary.