AsiaGlobal Voices

A lot of people have been shocked by the plan of new Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim to remove or revise the National Exam (referred to as UN, or Ujian Nasional, in Indonesia. This is just a small part of the major change that is needed in the field of education.

In his statement, the minister is right to say that the potential of children cannot be measured from a test and that they are forced to chase a good result because of the importance attached to it. There are many, many students who succeed at these exams because they are intensively coached. I suspect that 100 percent of students at universities are the products of coaching clinics. That means is that the door is effectively closed to children whose parents cannot afford to pay for coaching.

December is the busiest time for Filipino workers. There is still a lot of work to be done before the holidays. Employees are likely to claim a lot of overtime. With our hard-working workers in mind, we have filed a bill to eliminate the tax on overtime pay. If this bill becomes law, it will benefit 26.7 people in both the public and private sectors.

While the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) does not support this bill because it would collect fewer taxes. But this money will not disappear. The extra cash goes into the pockets of works who will use it to purchase goods and service. This will stimulate consumption, boost the economy and eventually result in greater revenue for the government.

To be honest, nobody wants to work overtime. The administration is implementing new taxes on alcohol, cigarettes, sugared drinks and more. So, let us ensure that employees fully enjoy the benefits of their overtime pay. This would be an early Christmas present to hard-working Filipino workers.