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1st Int’l Conference on Open and Distance e-Learning set

MANILA, Philippines – Educators, scholars and practitioners are invited to submit abstracts for paper and poster presentations at the first International Conference on Open and Distance e-Learning: Creating Spaces and Possibilities on Feb. 22 to 24, 2012 at the Century Park Hotel, Manila. Dubbed ICODeL 2012, the conference focuses on the convergence of philosophies, pedagogies and technologies in open and distance e-learning (ODeL), the opportunities opened up by this convergence, and the issues and challenges arising from the practice of ODeL in various contexts, including among others, education, public service and development. 

International experts Curtis Bonk of Indiana University and Denise Kirkpatrick of the UK’s Open University will speak at the conference. The proposed paper or poster should be relevant to one of the conference’s four sub-themes: The State of the Art in ODeL; Innovations and Best Practices in ODeL; Problems, Barriers, Reforms and Solutions; and Future Directions, Spaces and Possibilities in ODeL. 

The deadline for abstract submission is Nov. 15. Participants can register until Feb. 16, 2012. For details, log on to icodel.upou.edu.ph or e-mail at icodelsecretariat@upou.edu.ph. ICODeL 2012 is co-organized by the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), Philippine Society for Distance Learning and UPOU Foundation, Inc.

The Philippine Star 
November 03, 2011

DepEd’s dental project piloted in 20 grade schools in South

PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines — At least 20 public elementary schools spread out in Mindanao’s six regions have been selected by the Department of Education (DepEd) to pilot the implementation of its dental project called “Happy Smiles for Healthy Kids” for school year 2011-2012 in the country’s second biggest island region. 

Dr. Walter Albos, DepEd regional director for Western Mindanao, said the project enforced by the department’s Health and Nutrition Center (HNC) in coordination with the Philippine Dental Association (PDA) and Lamoiyan Corp., is expected to initially benefit some 10,000 pupils in the Southern Philippines where tooth ailments, particularly dental caries, are found to be prevalent among school children. 

Luistro, Albos said, identified the 18 provincial and city schools divisions where the pilot schools are located as Pagadian City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Dipolog City and Zamboanga City in Western Mindanao or Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9); Bukidnon, Ozamiz City, and Camiguin in Northern Mindanao (Region 10); Davao del Sur, Davao City and Davao del Norte in Southern Mindanao (Region 11); South Cotabato, Kidapawan City, Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato City, and North Cotabato in Central Mindanao (Region 12); Surigao del Sur and Butuan City in Caraga (Region 13), and Lanao del Sur in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). 

Luistro also directed concerned schools division superintendents to strongly support the project which seeks to ultimately reduce the prevalence of dental caries and other tooth diseases among pupils, especially those in rural schools. 

The Philippine Star
November 03, 2011 

Bill to allow students with unpaid fees to take exams

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Manuel Villar Jr. is pushing for the passage of a bill that would make it illegal for all tertiary level institutions to prevent their students from taking their examinations due to non-payment of tuition fees. 

In Senate Bill 2992, Villar noted that students of post-secondary and higher education institutions shall have the right to take the mid-term of final examinations “notwithstanding the existence of unpaid financial obligations to the school.”

“Unfortunately for students and their parents, schools can be quite exacting when it comes to tuition and this could not be any more apparent than during examinations,” Villar said. 

“While we understand that tuition and other fees are necessary for schools to provide the service required of them, there will be instances when parents/students are unable to pay on time,” he added. By filing the bill, Villar said that he is looking to prohibit all public and private higher education institutions, including the vocational schools from enforcing the so-called no permit, no exam policy.

Villar lamented that a lot of these higher education institutions (HEI) have ignored appeals by the Commission on Higher Education for them to exercise a greater degree of flexibility towards students with unsettled accounts.

This, he said, has caused a great deal of suffering and mental torment on the students and their families who have their dreams of making their way out of poverty through education.

Instead of prohibiting the students with obligations from taking their exams, the bill would provide the HEIs certain rights that would protect their own interests. 

By Marvin Sy (The Philippine Star) 
November 03, 2011

Australian gov’t to assist DepEd in implementing K+12 curriculum

MANILA, Philippines – The Australian government has pledged to assist the Department of Education (DepEd) as it pushes ahead with the implementation of its ambitious Kindergarten + 12 basic education curriculum (BEC) plan that will add a mandatory kindergarten and an additional two years of senior high school level before college. 

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the commitment was made to him and other education officials such as Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairperson Dr. Patricia Licuanan and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) deputy director general Teddy Pascual, in a visit to the said country organized by the Australian Agency for International Development (AuSAID) last week.

Luistro said that aside from some financial assistance, Australian education officials will help DepEd curriculum experts drawing up the enhanced elementary and high school, and the proposed two-year senior high school curricula, that will be laid out by 2016. 

“Their assistance especially with the curriculum will be a big help since they have a 12-year BEC,” Luistro said. The K+12 BEC program will result to the current 10-year BEC path with only six years of elementary and four years of high school becoming a 12-year basic path mainly as a result of the two-year senior high school.

DepEd said the K+12 BEC program will be designed to adjust and meet the fast-changing demands of society by providing graduates with essential skills for the world of work, college education or for the global arena. DepEd, under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, is bent on adding two years in the BEC, seeing it as a vital reform measure that will solve deficiencies in the competencies in the core subjects of English, Math and Science among majority of Filipino high school graduates, as well as to gain recognition of Filipino professionals among employers abroad.

The Philippines is one of the only two countries in the world that has a 10-year BEC, along with fellow third-world country, Myanmar.

By Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star) 
November 03, 2011

LCC, PIA rev up for radio program on literacy

by Elaine O. Ratunil

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Dec 14 (PIA) –- The Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC), in partnership with the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), will launch “Literasi Para sa Kaunlaran,” radio program tomorrow, December 15, 2011.

LCC’s chairperson Rizalino D. Rivera, who is also Department of Education’s undersecretary, said the radio program on literacy aims to promote the thrusts and programs of Republic Act 10122 otherwise known as “An Act Strengthening the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) by Amending RA 7165,” also, known as “An Act Creating the LCC, Defining its Powers and Functions, Appropriating Funds, therefore and for Other Purposes.”

Further, Usec. Rizalino said the “Literasi Para sa Kaunlaran” intends to intensify advocacy and social mobilization promoting literacy endeavors of LCC through radio broadcast in remote areas of the country where literacy rate is at its lowest.

 

Dr. Norma Salcedo of the Department of Education (DepEd), head of the LCC Secretariat, on the other hand, said through the program, the LCC hopes to convince the parents in these areas by showing them the importance of sending their children to school or to non-formal schools for out of school children. They also aim to encourage out of school youths (OSY) and indigenous people to avail of non-formal schools, placements and assessment programs.

The radio program hopes to promote the policy thrusts, directions and programs initiated by the LCC; and to underscore the importance of functional literacy in the empowerment of people and in poverty and hunger mitigation efforts, Salcedo said. The once a week radio segment will be aired live over a local radio station here in the city, every Sunday, 7:00-8:00 p.m. starting December 18.

There will be a delayed telecast over PARASAT Cable TV 29 on Saturdays, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

It will also have delayed telecast over various cable stations in the five provinces of Northern Mindanao: Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, and Misamis Oriental and including Marawi city. (PIA-10)

LCC, PIA rev up for radio program on literacy

by Elaine O. Ratunil

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Dec 14 (PIA) –- The Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC), in partnership with the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), will launch “Literasi Para sa Kaunlaran,” radio program tomorrow, December 15, 2011.

LCC’s chairperson Rizalino D. Rivera, who is also Department of Education’s undersecretary, said the radio program on literacy aims to promote the thrusts and programs of Republic Act 10122 otherwise known as “An Act Strengthening the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) by Amending RA 7165,” also, known as “An Act Creating the LCC, Defining its Powers and Functions, Appropriating Funds, therefore and for Other Purposes.”

Further, Usec. Rizalino said the “Literasi Para sa Kaunlaran” intends to intensify advocacy and social mobilization promoting literacy endeavors of LCC through radio broadcast in remote areas of the country where literacy rate is at its lowest.

 

Dr. Norma Salcedo of the Department of Education (DepEd), head of the LCC Secretariat, on the other hand, said through the program, the LCC hopes to convince the parents in these areas by showing them the importance of sending their children to school or to non-formal schools for out of school children. They also aim to encourage out of school youths (OSY) and indigenous people to avail of non-formal schools, placements and assessment programs.

The radio program hopes to promote the policy thrusts, directions and programs initiated by the LCC; and to underscore the importance of functional literacy in the empowerment of people and in poverty and hunger mitigation efforts, Salcedo said. The once a week radio segment will be aired live over a local radio station here in the city, every Sunday, 7:00-8:00 p.m. starting December 18.

There will be a delayed telecast over PARASAT Cable TV 29 on Saturdays, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

It will also have delayed telecast over various cable stations in the five provinces of Northern Mindanao: Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, and Misamis Oriental and including Marawi city. (PIA-10)

DepEd declares Nov as Reading Month

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) is bracing to undertake activities in line with the declaration of November as National Reading Month, and the setting of November 25 as the “Araw ng Pagbasa”.

Education Secretary Armin Luisto said the move was in support of the ten-point education agenda of the Aquino Administration and the promotion of Every Child a Reader Program (ECARP).

“We are coming up with more creative ways of developing the love for reading among our young because this is an important portal to the world of learning,” said Luistro.

The education department has listed down a series of activities to celebrate the month as stipulated in DepEd Order 244 which includes the conduct of a “Read-A-Thon” to foster a reading culture among pupils and launch a search for the best individual and team readers from students in public schools.

 

Also being promoted is the Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) project, a 15- to 20-minute daily activity devoted to reading a book or any reading materials available in the school. There is also the Shared Reading project (Big Brother or Sister/Kaklase Ko, Sagot Ko), an activity wherein older students or independent readers teach pupils who are at the frustration reading or non-reading level.

Luistro also proposes as one of the activities the Intensified Remedial Reading where teachers or class advisers give remedial lessons to children in the frustration reading level.

Meanwhile, the Five Words A Week (FWAW)/A Paragraph A Day (APAD) encourages pupils to learn and master one word a day for five days a week and to read aloud one or two short paragraphs a day before classes start to develop the students’ oral communication skills. DepEd also suggests the holding of a Reading Camp where children are provided a venue where their talents in communication arts can be highlighted through competitions.

To highlight the Reading Month, Luistro directed all regional, division and school level officials to lead the nationwide synchronized reading program every first Monday of November from 9 to 10 in the morning.

In a related development, DepEd will conduct the nationwide Araw ng Pagbasa on Nov. 25 to coincide with the week of the celebration of the birth anniversary of the late Senator Benigno ‘Ninoy” Aquino on November 27. The event also commemorates the 20th year of the signing of RA 7165 by former President Corazon Aquino which created the Literacy Coordinating Council on Nov. 25, 1991.

“By giving importance to the Araw ng Pagbasa, we are promoting reading and literacy among our learners even as we motivate them to learn from the lives and works of eminent Filipinos,” explained Luistro.
In pursuit of this, school officials are encouraged to conduct reading and literacy activities in honor of Ninoy Aquino. Schools are likewise asked to partner with non-government organizations and the private sector to foster cooperation in the community.

By Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star) 
November 10, 2011 

Majority of Phl’s ’30 illiterate barangays’ are in South

Seventeen, or majority, of the Philippines’ “30 illiterate barangays” are located in Mindanao, with nine of them ranked in the “Top 10”.

The Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) of the Department of Education (DepEd) describes “illiteracy” as a situation where not a few inhabitants of a village have little knowledge in the basic literacy skills of reading, ’riting and ’rithmetic or numeracy (often called the Three Rs).

The LCC largely attributes this problem to the far distance of many barangays or sitios, usually located in mountains or islands, from existing public elementary schools which require local school-age children and young adults to travel several hours to reach the learning center and return home.

Consequently, these youngsters grow up to become “no-read-no-write” like their parents, the LCC noted.

A DepEd report received here recently said the agency got its statistical data from the “Literacy Mapping” of the total number of barangays in 5th and 6th class municipalities released late last year by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

The data revealed that three villages in Salay town, Misamis Oriental, placed 1-2-3 in the list of 30 barangays. They are barangay Matampa which recorded the lowest basic literacy rate (BLR) of 30.4 percent followed by Alipuaton, 32.9 percent, and Bunal, 44.8 percent.

The Zamboanga del Sur barangays of Nangan-Nangan and Mate, both in Tigbao town, registered a BLR of 55.2 percent and 65.6 percent to emerge fourth and eighth, respectively.

Three Lanao del Norte (LdN) villages are also in the Top 10, namely, Pandalonan in Munai town with a BLR of 56.3 percent, fifth; Dansalan in Sapad, 65.1 percent, seventh, and Bubonga Rapadan also in Munai, 72.3 percent, 10th. Other LdN barangays in the list of 30 are Cabasagan with 73 percent and ranked 11th, and nearby Natangcopan, 75.6 percent and emerged 14th , both in Pantao Ratao town while the province’s barangays of Old Poblacion (82.6 percent) in Munai and Bangcal (85.7 percent) in Pantar placed 23rd and 28th, respectively.

The data showed that La Union’s village of Cardiz in Bagulin town got a BLR of 64.3 percent to land sixth in the Top 10. Misamis Occidental’s barangay Dioyo in Sapang Dalaga placed ninth with a BLR of 72 percent, while the town’s village of Ventura came out 22nd with a BLR of 82.4 percent, even as barangay Manalad in the adjacent municipality of Calamba got 86.3 percent to place 29th.

Two Surigao del Norte barangays — Sto. Rosario (83.3 percent) in Bacuag town and Poblacion Uno (83.0 percent) — ranked 25th and 26th, respectively.

Completing the Top 30 villages with low literacy rates are Dananao in Tinglayan town, Kalinga, which placed 12th; Estrella, San Guillermo, Isabela, 13th; Nanungaran, Rizal, Cagayan, 15th; Progreso, San Guillermo, Isabela, 16th; Marapilit, Zummaraga, Samar, 17th; Dao-angan, Boliney Abra, 18th; Paroyhog, Sta. Maria, Romblon, 19th; Bekigan, Sadangan, Mt. Province, 20th; San Miguel, Maslog, Eastern Samar, 21st; Canlasog, Larena, Siquijor, 24th; Bunacan, San Julian, Eastern Samar, 27th and Malijao, Dimiao, Bohol, 30th.

By J. Antonio Rimando (The Philippine Star) 
January 05, 2012

DepEd teams up with Peñaflorida to bring ‘pushcart’ education to more areas

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) has teamed up with the Dynamic Teen Company (DTC) of 2009 CNN Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida to scale up the latter’s “kariton” education model for mobile delivery of education services to out-of-school youth in poor urban areas in the country. 

DepEd and DTC launched the K4 Outreach program, touted as an “out of the box” delivery of educational services to marginalized urban learners.

The initial phase of the K4 program will implement the “kariton” education delivery style developed by Penaflorida which had gotten him the notice of CNN, leading to him being chosen as the CNN Hero of the Year for 2009.

“We say out of the box because it employs a novel way of making education and other basic social services accessible to underprivileged children initially in Manila, Caloocan, Pasig and Quezon City,” said Education Secretary Armin Luistro in ceremonies for the launch of the program last Saturday.

The K4 program developed by DTC uses kariton (pushcart) as klasrum (classroom), klinik (clinic), and kantin (canteen) to seek out its intended clientele.

As such it will carry with it educational materials, a simple medical care kit, and food to be shared to the learners after the learning session.

It targets street children aged 5 to 15 particularly those who never attended school or who have dropped out with the aim of reintegrating them into the formal school system.

The focus is on three learning areas. One is values formation that includes good manners and right conduct. There will also be literacy classes that teach them daily living skills, perceptual skills, language and mathematics. Thirdly, there will be a play center which aims to make learning enjoyable.

By Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star)
January 26, 2012

The new curriculum

2012 will truly be a new year for Philippine education.

In June 2012, students entering the first grade of elementary school and those entering the first year of high school will follow the new K to 12 curriculum.

Students already in elementary school today will have 12, rather than 10 years of basic education.

Students already in high school today will still have only four years of high school, but will have the option of taking two years of voluntary Senior High School in selected public and private schools.

Let us go through these developments one at a time.

What is in store for six-year-old children entering Grade 1 in June?

First of all, they will all have some form of pre-school education. Those in public schools will already have had a full year of Kindergarten. Those in private schools will most likely have had even more than one year of pre-school.

According to DepEd, only those who have had pre-school or Kindergarten will be allowed to enrol in Grade 1.

A question that always arises during discussions about K to 12 is this: what happens to the six-year-olds that have not had Kindergarten?

DepEd has proposed a solution. There will be an intensive Kindergarten in April and May. For children still without some kind of pre-schooling, there will be an even shorter quasi-Kindergarten during June itself.

Of course, there are serious problems with such an arrangement, but a little pre-schooling is better than none. The idea, however, is sound: children entering Grade 1 should already have experience in being in a classroom, socializing with other children.

What will Grade 1 be like in June?

The biggest change is in the duration of classes. Starting in June, Grade 1 students will stay in school for only half a day. A typical Grade 1 class will have the following schedule:

  • Homeroom = 10 minutes
  • Reading and Writing in the Mother Tongue = 40 minutes
  • Oral Fluency in Filipino = 40 minutes
  • Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (EsP) = 30 minutes
  • Recess = 20 minutes
  • Mathematics or Arithmetic = 30 minutes
  • Araling Panlipunan (AP) = 30 minutes
  • Music, Arts, Physical Education, Health (MAPEH) = 30 minutes

That is the schedule for the first semester (or the first two grading periods) for Grade 1. During the second semester (or the last two grading periods), Oral Fluency in English will be added for 40 minutes.

In the first semester, the student will stay in school for only 210 minutes or 3 1/2 hours. In the second semester, that will be extended to 250 minutes or a little over four hours.

The second biggest change is the use of the mother tongue both as medium of instruction and as a separate subject. As an example, take a typical Grade 1 class in Cebu. In June, the students will devote one period to Cebuano. They will learn how to read using Cebuano texts in the time allotted for “Reading and Writing in the Mother Tongue.” Students will also use Cebuano to study the other subjects, including Arithmetic.

The third biggest change is in the way Mathematics, AP, and Filipino will be taught. DepEd has decided to use the Spiral Approach. Simply put, that means that everything will be taught all at once, but in small doses. The approach is best illustrated in Mathematics. In the current approach, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are taught separately and in sequence.

Using the Spiral Approach, a typical lesson could go this way:

Take a group of five children. How many pencils do we need to have if each child would have one each? That is addition.

If another group of five children joins us, how many more pencils do we need? That is multiplication.

If one of the children goes home, how many pencils will we now need? That is subtraction.

If we had ten pencils and these two groups came to us at the same time, into how many groups of five pencils each do we need to arrange the pencils? That is division.

Instead of students learning the mathematical functions one lesson at a time, they will learn them all at once, within the same lesson. (This example is deliberately simplistic, but you get the idea.)

The fourth biggest change is the introduction of MAPEH. In the current curriculum, MAPEH starts in Grade 4. In the new curriculum, students are introduced to Philippine music, Philippine arts, physical education, and health issues immediately in Grade 1.

The biggest changes in Grade 7 (New High School Year 1) are the Spiral Approach and a new period called “Individual / Cooperative Learning.”

These big changes exemplify the major features of the new K to 12 curriculum.

The K to 12 curriculum is research-based. In order to draft it, curriculum designers had to look at what other countries are doing (thanks to foreign funding agencies that allowed Filipino experts to travel to other countries and foreign experts to come to the Philippines), what current pedagogical theories say (thanks to several local and foreign universities), and the situation on the ground (thanks to comprehensive reports from DepEd field offices). The designers have adapted the best practices of other countries to our own culture and experience. (To be continued)

MINI CRITIQUE By Isagani Cruz (The Philippine Star) 
January 05, 2012