THE recent international assessments of Filipino children's academic competencies are indeed alarming. The blame game is on, as usual and as expected. The alarm button is on, and the Education Commission was created to figure out how to solve the learning crisis. We can just hope and pray that comprehensive solutions are brewing to end the crisis. But certainly, a politicized education system will distort our vision of equitable, quality and inclusive education.

It takes a village to raise a child. Indeed! But there is a major issue that the village needs to address — and that is nutrition. No curricular, instructional, technological innovation can be effective to make a hungry child learn. Moreover, brain development does not begin in school. It starts in intrauterine life and nurtures in the home environment, which unfortunately are both problematic.