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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

Mining company gets top education stakeholder award

MANILA, Philippines – Responsible minerals development company Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI), the Philippine contractor for the Tampakan Copper-Gold Project, was honored as the 2010 Outstanding Stakeholder in Education by the Department of Education (DepEd) for the company’s immense contribution to various education programs in Region 12, specifically in the provinces of Saranggani, South Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat.

The award has been acknowledged as unprecedented in terms of its nature and its recipient company and industry. No other mining company in the Philippines has been cited as an outstanding stakeholder in the education sector.

In its citation, the DepEd has taken note of SMI’s contribution of at least P14 million worth of scholarships for thousands of elementary, secondary, and tertiary students, mostly from impoverished tribal communities in South Cotabato.

 

SMI has also joined with DepEd Region 12 in facilitating several projects in the region related to education. These projects include the implementation of the Indigenous People (IP) Curriculum in Tampakan, South Cotabato, the construction of school buildings, and the production of textbooks and other school materials for schools in the said region.

In addition to this, SMI has also pursued other education related programs such as wage subsidies for teachers, oratorical and storytelling competition for students, book donations through the Democratizing Reading Among Mindanaon (DReAM) Children Project, and the conduct of adult literacy classes.

The Philippine Star, August 05, 2010

Education in the SONA

MINI CRITIQUE By Isagani Cruz 
July 29, 2010

During his campaign for the presidency, Candidate Noynoy offered a 10-point agenda for education. In his State of the Nation address last Monday, President Benigno Aquino III focused on three of these points, namely, the 12-year basic education cycle, additional classrooms, and GASTPE.

Because the SONA was meant merely to outline what he wanted to achieve in the first year of his presidency and not to defend his proposals, Aquino had no time to repeat what he had already explained anyway several times during his campaign.

Let us review the details of the three points on education.

First, the addition of two years to our basic education cycle. Aquino said, “Mapapalawak natin ang basic education cycle mula sa napakaikling sampung taon tungo sa global standard na labindalawang taon.” The official English translation inadequately puts it this way, “We will be able to expand our basic education cycle from ten years to the global standard of twelve years.” I say the translation is inadequate because it fails to translate the word “napakaikli,” which is the point of the sentence in Filipino.

We have the shortest basic education cycle in the whole world. In all other countries in the world, a student needs to have gone through 12 or more years of formal schooling before being admitted to a university. Because universities around the world (except for ours) expect students to have gone through at least 12 years of formal education and, therefore, to be adults (18 years old or older), they can offer higher level courses immediately. The European first year college, for example, is the equivalent of our third year college in the Philippines (a year consisting of major subjects). Partly because we have only two years of major subjects and the Europeans have three, our college degrees are understandably looked down upon by European universities as substandard. (Our four world-ranked universities make up for the lack of years through excellent research outputs.)

Since 10 percent of our population work abroad and need credentials recognized internationally, we have no choice but to raise the standards of both our basic and higher education. By moving some of the subjects taught in the first two years of college to high school, we free at least one year of college for more major courses. Therefore, we not only make our basic education quantitatively equal to that of other countries, but we also make our higher education qualitatively comparable to that of foreign universities.

Second, Aquino mentioned classrooms twice during the SONA. The money squandered by the National Food Authority could have built “all the classrooms that our country needs, which cost P130 billion,” and public-private partnerships will allow the government to build more classrooms.

Money that should not be lost and money that can be earned will certainly solve the problem of classrooms. Aquino had no time, however, to mention one of the major financial problems in the construction of classrooms – the corruption in DPWH. Senator Franklin Drilon, for one, has built a huge number of classrooms at a fraction of the cost quoted by DPWH. We could build more than three times the number of classrooms envisioned in the current budget of DepEd, if DPWH would just stop overpricing.

Speaking of money, Aquino also mentioned the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program funded by the World Bank, part of which is meant to help very poor students to go to school. (The speech writers missed using the Filipino name of the program, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, which would have been more in keeping with the rest of the speech.)

Third, Aquino mentioned Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE), a program that funds part of the tuition of poor students in private schools in places where there are no public high schools. GASTPE fits in well with Aquino’s overall vision of public-private partnerships (a logical extension of the People Power that installed both Cory and Noynoy). GASTPE helps both students and private schools; conversely, private schools help the government fulfil its duty to educate everyone. In his 10-point Education Agenda, Aquino promised to replace GASTPE’s education voucher system (EVS) with education service contracting (ESC); in the SONA, Aquino thus mentioned ESC.

Aquino promised ten educational reforms, and within his first year in office, he can do at least three of them. He can already add one year to basic education (very simply by reengineering the current Prep to become Grade One, thus making a seven-year elementary school; funds for this are already in the budget). He can reallocate CCT and GASTPE to help really poor students. Finally, he can moderate, if not eliminate, the greed of DPWH.

The Philippine Star

12-year education plan bared

The Department of Education (DepEd) yesterday unveiled its ambitious 12-year basic education curriculum (BEC) plan that could change the current structure from 10 years with six years of elementary level and four years of high school to a combined Grades 1 to 12 path.

Former DepEd undersecretary Isagani Cruz bared the plan before education stakeholders and the media. 
Cruz, an education columnist of The STAR, has been tapped by DepEd to present the plan dubbed the “K+12 Basic Education Cycle” that would add two years to the BEC.

He said the program would address the major deficiency found by other countries in the Philippine education system.

“Internationally, we’re one of only 2 countries with less than 11 years (of BEC),” Cruz said.

“We’re teaching 12 years’ worth of knowledge and skills in 10 years. In the process, we’re shortchanging the students. That is not good for students. We’re trying to cram everything in 10 years,” he said.

Cruz said the Philippines had joined Myanmar in having a BEC of less than 11 years.

Developed and developing countries in Europe such as England have a 14-year BEC, Scotland has 13, Russia has 11; the US has 12 and in the Asian region, Malaysia has 13-year BEC; Singapore, Japan, India, China, Indonesia, and South Korea have 12.

The shift to the 12-year BEC, according to Cruz, would change the current structure where a Filipino student will have to go through Grades 1 to 12, apart from a mandatory one-year pre-school level, kindergarten, before starting on the 12-year cycle.

The plan calls for a gradual, step-by-step restructuring, which for this year will not see any major change yet, he said.

“This year, nothing changes. The grade and year levels stay the same,” Cruz said.

However, necessary redesigning of the curricula will be started to address deficiencies in the content on the core subjects of English, Science, Math and Filipino.

By next school year or school year 2011 to 2012, there will be a bridge year introduced for graduating elementary school students who will not make a cutoff score in a kind of “high school readiness test” to be administered by the end of the current school year.

By school year 2012 to2013, DepEd will add an additional year in high school — a 5th year– with the additional year focusing on English.

“It will be called the Year of English,” Cruz said.

By school year 2015 to 2016, Cruz said the Grade 1 to 12 would have been fully implemented. 
Under the K+12 plan, Grades 1 to 7, for school children aged six to 12 years old will be the elementary level. Grades 8 to 10 will be the Junior High School Level.

Grades 11 to 12 will be the “specialized High School” or “Junior College.”

At the end of the 12-year BEC, Cruz said that high school graduates are expected to be employable. 
Cruz said that at the end of the 12-year cycle, a student would be 18 years of age who can be legally employed or could start their own businesses.

“Tertiary education will no longer be remedial and will conform to international standards,” Cruz added.

While the plan would add two years and make the education phase longer, Cruz said that this is necessary.

“Let’s not solve the problems of DepEd in a hurry,” Cruz said. 
Cruz said yesterday’s presentation was the start of a consultation process of the DepEd in its effort to get feedback on the plan from education stakeholders.

Cruz, however, gave assurance that DepEd was bent on implementing the plan, considering that adding two years in the BEC was a campaign promise of President Aquino.

Yesterday’s presentation before the media already indicated conflicting positions on the plan.

Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Education formed by the previous administration to implement reforms on the education sector, opposed the program.

Nebres said that instead of moving to add two years, DepEd should first address the deficiencies in the current 10-year BEC.

“Fix the problem in the 10 years BEC. This all sounds very nice but when you get down to the ground, it does not make sense,” Nebres said.

“Keep your solutions simple. Look at the problems in the 10 years and fix those problems first,” he added. 
Nebres said the move would be a distraction to DepEd.

“The problem with this is it will distract DepEd. Please leave the basic system alone. There are other pressing problems to attend to,” he said.

Peter Perfecto, executive director of the Philippine Business for Education (PBED) expressed support for the program.

“We want the additional two years of education and we want it in the BEC,” Perfecto said.

PBED, an organization composed of corporate executives, has been advocating for reforms in the education sector.

Led by former ambassador Ramon del Rosario, the group said the education sector should reform itself so it can produce graduates that are highly qualified to join the workforce.

By Rainier Allan Ronda,The Philippine Star 
September 29, 2010 

DepEd 12-year basic education program

Nilinaw kahapon ng Department of Education (DepEd) na hindi agarang maipatutupad sa susunod na taon ang panukalang “K+12 program” o pagdaragdag ng 2 taon sa kasalukuyang 10 taong basic education sa buong bansa.

Sinabi ni Undersecretary for Programs and Projects Yolanda Quijano na isa lamang ang K+12 program sa tatlong modelong kanilang pinag-aaralan na ipatutupad upang maitaas ang kalidad ng basic education sa bansa. Kabilang sa basic education ang kasalukuyang anim na taong elementarya at 4 na taong high school.

Sa ginawang konsultasyon kamakalawa na dinaluhan ng mga “academicians”, guro, magulang at ilang estudyante sa Deped, nakatakdang plantsahin pa ang mga detalye ng bubuuing bagong kurikulum na maaaring tatagal ng higit pa sa dalawang taon.

Bukod dito, kailangang maresolba rin muna ang problema sa pagkukunan ng dagdag na pondo ng DepEd para sa karagdagang dalawang taon sa kurikulum.

Habang nagsasagawa pa ng dagdag na pag-aaral at konsultasyon, sinabi ni Quijano na marami pa silang mas importanteng dapat asikasuhin tulad ng pagpuno sa kakulangan ng mga guro, silid-aralan, libro at iba pang backlogs sa kagamitan ng sistema ng edukasyon sa buong bansa.

Pilipino Star Ngayon, Ni Danilo Garcia

DepEd mulls revival of food for school program

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) is eyeing to revive the food for school program (FSP) this school year to enable it to reach out to more children and their families, particularly in poor areas of the country, Education Secretary Armin Luistro said recently.

Luistro said they are discussing the possible revival of the FSP with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) on how to proceed with the program. “We will still talk about the program. The new player here is the Agriculture Department because we have been working with DSWD already,” Luistro said.

DSWD Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman earlier said that the Aquino administration is reviewing the program implemented first by the previous administration due to alleged leakages in the distribution of rice supplies to beneficiaries.

The FSP was launched in 2004 by the DepEd under the Accelerated Hunger Mitigation plan to arrest the hunger incidence and malnutrition among school children in poor areas in the country.

Under the program Grade 1 pupils receive a daily ration of one kilo of fortified rice everyday for 95 school days from the National Food Authority (NFA) as subsidy to families.

The DepEd said the program improved school attendance, academic performance and retention rate of the school children.

By Jose Rodel Clapano
The Philippine Star, August 05, 2010

Metrobank names outstanding teachers for 2010

MANILA, Philippines – Eight public school teachers from the elementary and secondary levels, including two professors from the University of the Philippines-Diliman and De La Salle University, emerged as winners in this year’s Metrobank Foundation Search for Outstanding Teachers.

In this 26th year of the Search, Mlang, Cotabato; Calauag, Quezon; and Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay produced their first Outstanding Teacher awardees.

The awardees for the elementary category are: Grace U. Salvatus of Municipal Sector Elementary School (Calauag, Quezon); Miladith B. Polutan of Oroquieta City Central Elementary School (Oroquieta City); Conchita A. Ibarondo of San Antonio Elementary School (Iriga City); and Nancy S. Aquino of Mlang Pilot Elementary School (Mlang, Cotabato).

For the secondary category, they are: Janeth Morata-Fuentes of Philippine Science High School-Eastern Visayas Campus (Palo, Leyte); Mercidita S. Villamayor of Bukidnon State University-Secondary School Lab (Malaybalay City); Estrelita A. Peña of Kabasalan National High School (Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay); and Mercelita J. Labial of Xavier University High School (Cagayan de Oro City).

While Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara of the University of the Philippines-Diliman and Dr. Raymund C. Sison of De La Salle University are the awardees for the higher education category.

“The Metrobank Foundation believes that by giving recognition to the outstanding qualities, achievements and contributions of our beloved educators, we promote a sense of pride in and provide inspiration to the teaching profession and to the rest of the society,” said Metrobank Foundation president Aniceto Sobrepeña. “For over 26 years, we have envisioned our awardees to serve as infrastructure for continuing excellence and to provide greater impact on their respective spheres of influence,” he continued.

The national finalists then faced the final board of judges for this year’s search co-chaired by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri and Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura. Also serving as judges were: Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairman Francisco Duque III; Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Rod Smith; San Beda College president Rev. Fr. Aloysius Ma. Maranan; and Shell Companies in the Philippines country chairman Edgar Chua.

This year’s Outstanding Teachers will be conferred with gold medallions by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III in Malacañang. They will also be presented with plaques and cash amounting to P300,000 each during the formal awarding ceremonies at Metrobank Plaza in Makati, which will serve as the highlight of the 48th anniversary celebration of the Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company on Sept. 3, 2010.

The Philippine Star, August 12, 2010

Almost Nine Out of Ten Filipinos are Functionally Literate

Fifty-eight million of the estimated 67 million Filipinos 10 to 64 years old are functionally literate, according to the results of the 2008 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS). In this survey, a functionally literate person is one who can read, write and compute or one who can read, write, compute and comprehend. Persons who completed high school or a higher level of education are also considered functionally literate.

QUEZON CITY, Sept 29 (PIA) – The Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC), chaired by Department of Education (DepEd) and in cooperation and coordination with other Government

The 2008 FLEMMS revealed a functional literacy rate of 86.4 percent; in the 2003 FLEMMS the estimate was 84.1 percent. Among the regions, NCR has the highest functional literacy rate at 94.0 percent, followed by CALABARZON (93.5 percent) and Central Luzon (92.1 percent). ARMM has the lowest functional literacy rate (71.6 percent). The functional literacy rate among females is higher than among males (88.7 percent vs. 84.2 percent).

As expected, functional literacy rate is higher among persons with higher level of education. Among those who had reached but did not finish high school, 89.8 percent were functionally literate and of those who had finished elementary, 80.8 percent were functionally literate. By comparison, 67.0 percent of those with some elementary education were functionally literate, while only five percent among those with no formal education were functionally literate.

The 2008 FLEMMS is the fourth in a series of functional literacy surveys conducted by the National Statistics Office. The previous rounds were conducted in 1989, 1994, and 2003. In the 2008 FLEMMS, a self-administered questionnaire was accomplished by 69,482 individuals aged 10 to 64 years in 25,505 households sampled for the survey. The survey aimed to provide information on basic and functional literacy status and exposure to mass media of the population. The 2008 FLEMMS was conducted in coordination with the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) and the Department of Education (DepEd).

(Sgd.) CARMELITA N. ERICTA
Administrator
 
Number: 2010-142
Date Released: September 9, 2010

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.”

LCC Holds 2010 National Literacy Conference and Awards

The Literacy Coordinating Council recently held its National Literacy Conference and Awards in Baguio Teachers Camp in Baguio City, September 8-11, 2010. 

The Conference and Awards, with the theme “Community Development: A Shared Responsibility to Society through Functional Literacy,” was participated in by local government units officials, DepEd Alternative Learning System officials and teachers, non-government organizations representatives, Council representatives and technical advisory and working groups, and literacy stakeholders and advocates from all over the Philippines. Around 615 registered participants filled Benitez Hall of the Camp, excluding the LCC Secretariat and working committees and National Literacy Awards  Winners.(participants)Honored guests and speakers to the Conference included DepEd Undersecretary Rizalino Rivera who gave the opening remarks, and SEAMEO INNOTECH director Ramon C. Bacani, among others. 

There were two plenary sessions and a panel discussion with topics International Conference on Adult Education VI: The Belem Framework of Action, The Role of Radio in Reaching Out to Communities towards Literacy and Development, and Social Responsibility for Community Development, respectively. Aside from the talks shared by the speakers, two more highlights of the Conference were the launching of the LCC theme song titled “Functional Literacy, My Right and My Duty,” composed and arranged by Lourdes R. Quisumbing, Ph.D., president of the UNESCO Asia Pacific Network for International Education and Values Education Phil. and former Secretary of the Department of Education; and the awarding of winners to the National Literacy Awards Outstanding Local Government Units and Literacy Programs, and special recognition to literacy programs and implementers. (2010 NLA winners)

Undersecretary Rivera delivered the closing message, reiterating that through partnership and by helping one another, we can achieve our goal of a literate citizenry.