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Exchange Visit to the Philippines

Officials of the Ministry of Education (MoE) of Nepal met with the head of the Literacy Coordinating Council Secretariat (LCC) in their visit to the Philippines recently. The visit is in line with Nepal MoE’s School Sector Reform Plan 2009-2015 which aims to improve equity and access, quality and relevance, and effeciency and effectiveness of education focusing at the school and community levels.

The Nepal Education Ministry officials were particularly interested to learn  how the Philippines has implemented decentralization in education, capacity development at the local level, and planning and resource mobilization at school and community levels.

After giving a short background about LCC as a policy-making body on literacy endeavors, its secretariat head Dr. Norma Salcedo acquainted the officials on the various literacy programs the LCC assists and some strategies the Council employs to enhance  literacy advocacy nationwide. She also gave information on the literacy rate of Filipinos, including other literacy programs the government promotes to improve the quality of education in the country that would eventually gain benefit for the Filipinos – children.youth, and adults alike.

The exchange, though short, proved meaningful to Nepal MoE officials. As they believe regional and international experience on educational reform provides immense opportunity for their country to learn from different sources and to adopt strategies in the course of their reform initiatives, they consider the Philippines as one that has a wide range of lessons and best examples in education reform initiaitves which could be instrumental for their senior management to learn from.

The Nepal Education Ministry delegates also met with other officials of the Department of Education including the Bureau of Secondary Education, National Educational Testing and Research Center, and Teacher Education Council.

By Analiza S. Dy
May 27, 2010

PGMA signs RA 7165 as amended

Republic Act 7165 as amended has been signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on May 27, 2010. The amended act, now known as Republic Act No. 10122, is titled as“An act strengthening the Literacy Coordinating Council by amending Republic Act 7165, otherwise known as  an ‘Act  creating the Literacy Coordinating Council, defining its powers and functions, appropriating funds therfor and for other purposes.’“

QUEZON CITY, Sept 29 (PIA) – The Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC), chaired by Department of Education (DepEd) aAs it is the policy of the State to “give the highest priority to the adoption of measures for the universalization of literacy” and with the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) as the “overall advisory and coordinating body providing policy and program directions for all literacy endeavors in the country,” RA 10122 provides for an expanded powers and functions of the Council. Among others, “to engage the sevices, expertise and resources including, but not limited to, cooperation, assistance and support of appropriate government agencies or NGOs involved in literacy;” and to “formulate measures on the monitoring and evaluation of the literacy situation in the country, including the establishment and maintenance of a national databank and information exchange and dissemination system to support literacy efforts at the national and local levels.nd in cooperation and coordination with other Government Organizations, Local Government Units, Private Organizations and Non-Government Organizations, will hold the National Literacy Conference on Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2015, at the DepEd ECHOTECH Center, Cebu City. DepEd Secretary Armin A. Luistro, FSC, will give keynote address in the opening program of the conference, which is centered on the theme, “Educational Justice and New Literacies.”

Llikewise, the RA provides for “equal opportunity for duly designated representatives to vote and participate in any deliberation during meetings of the Council” and  the creation of a permanent Secreatriat workforce to support the Counci.

The provisions in the amended law is attuned to the current changes and developments in Philippine society and the world specifically in the area of literacy. It  gives the Council an unfolding and widened opportunity  to actively involve a greater segment of government and civil society in the campaign for the promotion of literacy for all Filipinos.

DepEd incorporates media literacy in school subjects

THE Department of Education (DepEd) is set to include media literacy education in the country’s basic education curriculum starting this school year. “We believe that our young learners need to be protected from adverse media which they encounter every day while in the process of acquiring information and entertainment,” said DepEd Secretary Mona Valisno.

To prepare for the integration, DepEd has created the Media Literacy Task Force (MLTF) which was given the green light to develop a National Media Literacy Education (NMLE) curriculum that would help children understand and handle media.

“Our children need help in developing their skill to distinguish good news from bad news and good programs from bad ones,” explained Valisno.

She said recent studies of the Cartoon Network New Generations Philippines (2009), the 2008 AC Nielsen kid study, and the 2002 PCTVF Media Violence Study showed that 26 percent of Filipino children go online every day.

Likewise, a 2008 study conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) showed that excessive exposure to television is one of the leading causes of physical weakness, stress, poor appetite, aggression, and violent behavior among children.

These prompted the DepEd National Council for Children’s Television, Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, and Smart Communications to launch the Bantay TV campaign.

The campaign involves the monitoring of television programs especially those that are shown between 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., the time when majority of children can watch TV shows.

It is aimed at reducing by 20 percent the incidence of vulgarity, discrimination, sex, and violence in TV.

The NMLE is set to be integrated in the Basic Education Curriculum under Social Studies for the elementary level; and under English, Communication Arts, and Values subjects for the high school.

Valisno said teachers, school administrators, and peer educators will soon undergo trainings in preparation for the integration. Media learning resources will also be developed for the use in public schools.

Source: Sunstar Manila, May 16, 2010

DepEd: Opening of classes smooth, orderly

MANILA, Philippines – The opening of classes for more than 21 million public school students and more than 3.26 million private school students in the pre-school, elementary and high school levels went “very smoothly,” Education Secretary Mona Valisno declared yesterday.

While there were the usual problems of crowded classrooms in some schools, particularly in urban areas, Valisno said public schools welcomed incoming Grade 1 pupils and high school freshmen as well as students returning after the summer break.

“We’ve had a very smooth opening of classes in our public schools, even in Metro Manila,” Valisno told a press briefing during the Oplan Balik Eskwela campaign at the Department of Education (DepEd) central office in Pasig City yesterday.

Valisno said DepEd is still confident that the quality of education was not compromised, notwithstanding the resource shortages in public schools.

“Even if our classrooms are packed, we are finding ways to get them all in and make sure they get taught and learn,” she said.

Valisno said DepEd is delivering 5.73 million textbooks this school year as it targets to achieve a 1:1 student to textbook ratio.

This is expected to enhance education efficiency in public schools. Public schools already have 86.2 million textbooks on inventory, she said.

There are presently more than 45,000 public elementary and high schools in the country. The number of pre-schools is placed at 15,841.

Valisno also explained that to bring public school education standards to 21st century level, the government has so far put up computer laboratories in 5,409 public high schools out of a total of 6,650 public high schools. Moreover, high schools with Internet connection total 3,820 while Internet connection for the remaining 2,830 public high schools is being procured.

Valisno though admitted that problems would still crop up despite efforts to address the concerns on the lack of schoolrooms, textbooks, availability of teachers, and the issue of no collection of school fees.

“We want to assure the public that these concerns are already being resolved… and our continuing coordination with the national agencies, local governments units, grassroots and private organizations as well as barangay officials,” Valisno said.

While agreeing with DepEd that the first day of the school year went smoothly in public schools, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) party list Rep. Antonio Tinio said that learning conditions remain far from ideal for the more than 21 million public pre-school, elementary and high schools.

“It’s always orderly (opening). But the conditions are far from ideal. The nine years of GMA (President Arroyo) have really been bad for education, the conditions went from bad to worse,” Tinio said.

The opening of classes in several regions of the country, on the other hand, has been postponed indefinitely.

In some far-flung villages of Sumisip in Basilan, the opening of classes was postponed due to ongoing military operations against the Abu Sayyaf bandits.

DepEd officials in Batangas also ordered the postponement of classes in Pulo Elementary School in Talisay and Kalawit Elementary School in Balete. Both schools are located in Volcano Island near the crater of Taal Volcano. Edmon Pampulan, officer in charge of Pulo Elementary School, said they were advised to postpone the opening of classes while alert level 2 remains hoisted over the area.

The Philippine Star, June 16, 2010 
By Rainier Allan Ronda with Roel Pareño, Arnell Ozaeta, Alexis Romero

Gearing up Internet Literacy and Access for Students

Gearing up Internet Literacy and Access for Students (GILAS) is a multi-sectoral initiative that is composed mainly of corporations and concerned nonprofit institutions that realize the need to invest in bridging the digital divide among the nation’s public high school students.

Filipino students learn under the most difficult of circumstances. The Philippine government budget for education is not enough to provide for adequate educational facilities and other learning resources. This is why only a handful of Filipino students are given the privilege of a college education, as only a small minority are able to afford one.

Meanwhile, the Internet is becoming increasingly important in our day-to-day activities, as it opens doors to a wealth of information and resources. Access to information has become a basic necessity, not a luxury. Companies have raised the bar for new hires, requiring proof of Internet literacy as part of the minimum qualifications. Sadly, the Philippine government remains heavily burdened by the task of improving on even more basic resource shortages in the educational system.

Today, public high school students hardly have any access to computers in their schools, thus suffering the risk of being ill equipped in a world that is gradually becoming more digital. The future of the nation lies in its ability to harness the potentials of its youth.

GILAS aims to provide Internet access to all public secondary school students in the Philippines, thus giving them an opportunity to a brighter future.

UNESCO Call for Nominations

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has once again extended its invitation to the Philippines, through the Department of Education, to submit its entry to the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes 2010 call for nominations. These UNESCO Prizes are awarded to government or government agencies, nongovernment organizations, or individuals in recognition of innovative and successful work in the field of literacy.

The country’s targetted entry to the UNESCO Prizes 2010 is the Dal-on Ta (regional term forlet’s deliver) literacy program of the Municipality of Tubungan, Iloilo, three-time first place winner in the LCC National Literacy Awards.  Now a Hall of Fame awardee, the program has branched out to various Sagip (local term for save, assist; Assist the government toward its development) projects implemented in the different barangays of the municipality.

DAL-ON TA : Delivery of Assistance 
towards Literacy on New Techniques 
and Approches

The United Nations Literacy Decade theme for 2009-2010 is literacy and empowerment, thus the call for nominations particularly welcome “innovative and successful literacy projects and programs that specifically promote women’s empowerment in the social, economic, and political dimensions”  for which Dal-on Ta exhibits and supports.

UNESCO awards two UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prizes and two UNESCO Confucius Prizes for Literacy. The King Sejong Prizes give consideration to the development and use of the mother tongue languages while the Confucius Prizes  to literacy projects that give attention to people in rural areas and the out-of-school youth.

Winners will receive their awards at the international ceremony organized by UNESCO on September 8, International Literacy Day. It will be recalled that in  2009, the Philippines’ entry to the literacy awards, Agoo, Kay-ganda of the Municipality of Agoo, La Union, won a Confucius Prize for Literacy.

 

Mobile computer school gets big boost from Acer

MANILA, Philippines – A top non-government organization’s vision of providing knowledge about computers and the Internet to out-of-school youth and other marginalized sectors of society got a big boost with the recent donation made by Acer Philippines, Inc., the local office of one of the world’s top computer manufacturers, Acer, Inc.

AIHU Foundation, Inc., is a non-profit organization which sees to it that the long-term needs of the country in terms of quality education, skills training and values formation are met through love (“AI”) and care (“HU”) for their fellowmen.

The recent donation by Acer Foundation of several Acer desktops through AIHU’s Computer Van Aralan is for AIHU Foundation to be able to provide computer literacy to marginalized but otherwise deserving out-of-school-youth, students and even government employees who cannot afford to pay tuition fees in order to learn more about computers.

“We are glad that there are still organizations like the AIHU Foundation who look at education, IT education in particular, as a high-value subject with regard to helping people become more IT-savvy and competitive in the corporate environment, particularly the underprivileged members of society. This is just another small step for us in helping people become more exposed to IT; there will definitely be other steps for us to make in order to reach the objective of an IT-literate nation,” explains Manuel Wong, Acer Philippines general manager.

The Computer Van Aralan started back in May 2004 where the first Computer Van Aralan, a 35-foot container van with 15 computers inside, was established. From then on, three more Computer Van Aralan sites were put up in order to provide information technology training to various beneficiaries in areas like Manila, Bulacan, Quezon City, Laguna, Tarlac, Olongapo City, Bataan, Quezon, Bicol, Pangasinan, Aurora Province and Camarines Norte and Sur.

The Philippine Star July 29, 2010

Literacy panel gets more funds

President Gloria Arroyo has signed a law appointing the Education secretary as chairman of the Literacy Coordinating Council, the advisory body that provides policy directions for all literacy programs in the country.

Republic Act No. 10122 also doubled the budget of the literacy council to P20 million in a bid to strengthen nonformal, informal and indigenous learning systems, including out-of-school study programs that respond to needs of various communities.

The council has been tasked to monitor and evaluate the literacy situation in the country, including the establishment of a national data bank and information exchange and dissemination system to support literacy efforts at national and local levels.

Under the new law, the Education chief, as chairman, may designate an undersecretary as his or her permanent representative to the council.

Other members of the council shall include the Interior Secretary; the president of the Philippine Normal University; the director general of the Philippine Information Agency; the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority; the chairman of the Senate committee on education, arts and culture; and the chairman of the House committee on basic education and culture.

Manila Standard Today, June 22, 2010
By Joyce Pangco Pañares

 

Much work still to be done on literacy in RP

The Philippines still has much to do in catching up with other countries when it comes to literary. Education Network Philippines national coordinator Cecilia Soriano revealed that the Philippines currently ranks with countries like Cambodia and Myanmar when it comes to functional literacy.

“In 1950s, we ranked second to Japan,” she said during her guesting with other judges of the 2010 National Literacy Awards in Kapihan sa Kapitolyo at the Provincial Media Center of Davao del Norte.

While noting that Filipinos are aspiring to go above ranks of other third world countries, Soriano threw the challenge to do more and move forward programs on literacy.

Soriano bared the country’s overall literacy rate was placed at 98 percent in 2008 from 94 in 2003 and that the functional literacy level showed improvement from 84.1 percent in 2003 to 87 percent in 2008.

“Still, so much needs to be done,” she said.

The national government has been into goals of improving the literacy status of the country especially now that it has committed to help achieve a global goal of reducing adult illiteracy by 50 percent in 2015.

To help the national government achieve the goal, the Department of Education and Culture and the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) are networking with all sectors, government agencies, non-government organizations, LGUs, among others to “promote literacy and disseminate the importance of literacy to national progress”.

To recognize efforts of cooperating sectors, especially LGUs, the Literacy Coordinating Council launched the National Literacy Awards in 1994. After it was held in abeyance in 2006 to 2007, NLA resumed in 2008.

Judges of 2010 National Literacy Awards are visiting these year’s contenders for Outstanding Local Government Award, Component City category of which Tagum City of Davao del Norte has landed as one of the five finalists.

Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Program Management, Creative and Production Services Director Emilyn Libunao who chairs the 2010 NLA board of judges said local government units (LGUs) play a crucial part of institutionalizing literacy programs.

She said LGUs are expected to integrate literacy programs in their development agenda.

While NLA is recognizing other stakeholders, it is giving importance to LGUs which develop and implement literacy programs and projects in their respective communities.

NLA seeks to sustain, expand and institutionalize literacy efforts by motivating and recognizing individuals, institutions and LGUs through awards and appropriate recognition.

It aims to encourage the development and replication of innovative, creative and indigenous literacy programs, and contribute to the realization of the goal to universalize literacy in the Philippines by creating public awareness of and interest in programs and projects addressing illiteracy.

By Jeanevive Duron-Abangan 
July 14, 2010, Tagum City -LCC/PIAXI

EDITORIAL – Additional years of learning

Some parents who studied in exclusive private schools may have noticed that a number of their high school subjects are now being taught to their children in the elementary grades. There is so much more to learn in a world where advances in science and technology are changing lifestyles, revising old concepts and adding new information at warp speed.

Some private schools have extended class hours or started elementary pupils on whole-day classes at an earlier grade. Public schools, with student populations that grow larger every year with no corresponding expansion in school facilities, cannot afford such moves. These days a proposal to add two years to elementary and high school, which will make the number of years the same as those in many Asian countries, has been revived.

The proposal is laudable – if it can be backed by the necessary resources for effective implementation. Additional years in primary and secondary schools will require more teachers, classrooms, and all the other facilities and equipment for education. As it is, the government’s teaching pool is already stretched thin, especially in schools that have been forced to hold classes in three shifts to accommodate the booming student population. More textbooks – free of factual and grammatical errors – must be produced. Do we have the resources for all of these?

Equally important is the quality of education that will be imparted in the additional years. If the added years will simply allow the slow learners more time to absorb what has already been learned in previous years, this will be a waste of precious resources. This concern has been raised particularly by parents with limited resources, who must provide transportation and snack money to their children apart from miscellaneous school fees throughout the year.

A sound investment would be in free, universal kindergarten in public schools. Numerous studies have shown the unusually high capacity of young minds to absorb information. Children from financially well-off families get an early edge over their poor counterparts, beginning kiddie school at three years old and entering kindergarten at five.

There is general agreement that the country needs to raise the quality of education to improve national competitiveness. In all these proposals, the government must not lose sight of the objective: not just to stay longer in school, but to learn more.

The Philippine Star, June 28, 2010