News

Government to push for revised Magna Carta for Teachers

BUTUAN CITY, Philippines — The Aquino administration will continue to push for the revised Magna Carta for Teachers to ensure a better working environment for the mentors and support the continuing capacity building for teachers, report from the Caraga regional office of the Philippine Information Agency said.

The Department of Education said it would continue promoting accountability among teachers and encouraged them to organize themselves into forming professional learning communities and support of improving student learning approaches, the report added.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro noted that the education department is striving hard to support the educational efforts of the teachers by making teacher education and development a second key reform thrust of Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda aimed at improving learning outcomes through improved teaching quality.

DepEd is now using the competency-based Teachers Standard (CBTS) for recruitment, selection and hiring of teachers to ensure that only the best will mentor the learners, the report concludes.

By Ben Serrano 
(The Philippine Star) Updated November 04, 2010

Review of government scholarship programs urged

MANILA, Philippines – Presiding over last week’s Senate finance committee hearing on the 2011 budget of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Sen. Edgardo Angara called for a review of the various scholarship programs funded by the government through the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in order to assess their status, as well as their needs for the coming academic year.

According to CHED, 2.7 million students make up the total population of the Philippine higher education system.

“Of that 2.7 million, how many is the state supporting? What are the demographics of the recipients of government aid? We must make sure that we are providing enough aid for the most underprivileged in our country’s youth population,” Angara said.

Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Education, suggested the creation of a separate division to keep track of all the government’s educational programs.

 

Angara, vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, asked the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Department of Education (DepEd), and other agencies with educational programs to provide a breakdown of their expenses.

“We should compare the per-student cost of the scholars from different bodies so that we get a grasp of how much the state is really spending. It looks as though the number of post-graduate enrollees have been gradually increasing, so they would surely benefit from the streamlining of their funds,” he explained.

“We must also monitor the number of graduates from these post-graduate programs and science schools and how many go abroad to work, since we seem to be losing our young, brilliant minds to the lure of the Ivy Leagues,” Angara said, in response to the report that about five percent of the state-funded science high school graduates go abroad to work or study further.

By Christina M. Mendez (The Philippine Star) October 28, 2010

Young scientists take lead in building a culture of science

“This event is a realization of my dream.”

Thus said Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Undersecretary and for a while, was an officer-in-charge of the Philippine Science High School System Fortunato dela Paz in his keynote address to the country’s budding young scientists who converged in Antipolo for three days of fun and learning in the first Philippine Science High School System-Meralco

Management and Learning Development Center (PSHSS-MMLDC) Science Fair held from Nov. 16 to 18.

The science fair is the fruition of the collaboration and shared dream of the PSHSS, headed by PSHS-WV director and Science Fair chairman Dr. Josette Biyo and MMLDC, represented by executive director Agnes Fidelino and academic services director Vivien Arnobit, to support and help the nation’s productivity through appreciation and learning the importance of science through knowledge and experience sharing and practice of research among the youth, especially high school students.

This year’s event, which has the theme “Building a Culture of Science,” seeks to raise the interest of students in science as well as research and investigative projects, and also provide young scientists with an opportunity to showcase their research works, inventions and breakthroughs in an environment that promotes camaraderie and cooperation instead of competition.

This was followed by a plenary session with the panel of experts, some of whom were also alumni of PSHS, composed of Dr. Rowena Cristina Guevara of the UP Electrical and Electronics Institute, Dr. Edna Amparado of the UP Institute of Biology, Asian Institute of Management professor and Hybridigm Consulting, Crimson Tayco of the UP Marine Science Institute, Jason Alcarez of the PSHS Main Campus and Dr. Maria Corazon de Ungria, head of the UP DNA Analysis Laboratory, who shared their own research works and gave the students a glimpse of emerging trends in their respective fields of expertise.

The event concluded with a Community Science Fair wherein the participating PSHS students presented their works to public school students. The fair aims to encourage the participants to take the lead in promoting a culture of science by presenting their works in a manner which can be easily understood.

For inquires on MMLDC’s academic programs, call 6328111 loc. 750/753 or e-mail: macuraming@mmldc.org ormmldc.marketing@mmldc.org, or visit www.mmldc.org. MMLDC, your one-stop training shop, is located along Sumulong

Highway in Antipolo, just one hour drive from Makati and 45 minutes from Quezon City.

The Philippine Star 
Updated December 09, 2010 

Dunong-Gulong ng ALS sagot sa ‘illiteracy problem’

MANILA, Philippines – Ipapakilala ng Department of Education (DepEd) ang isang bagong mukha ng pag-aaral para solusyunan ang ‘illiteracy problem’ sa bansa.

“At ang salita ay naging gawa,” ito ang paglalarawan ni DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro sa kauna-unahang Alternative Learning System sa mobile bus katuwang ang channel UNTV at Ang Dating Daan.

Ang Alternative Learning System project ay kinabibilangan ng mga state-of-the-art buses na iikot sa rural roads ng bansa. Ang proyekto ay tinawag na “Dunong-Gulong ng ALS” at ito ay may dalawang buses para sa initial operation na ibinigay ng UNTV at ng Ang Dating Daan.

“This project is considered as milestone for the public service endeavors of DepEd,” sabi nina Kuya Daniel Razon ng UNTV at Bro. Eli Soriano ng “Ang Dating Daan.”

Ang Dunong-Gulong bus ay maaaring makapagsakay ng 30 learners at ito ay nilagyan ng UNTV ng LCD monitor para sa visual presentation, teacher’s desk, projectors, laptop, cabinets at isang library.

Pilipino Star Ngayon, December 02, 2010

 

To learn Pinoy culture well, study Phl history before colonization

For renowned Filipino anthropologist Dr. Felipe Landa Jocano, a real look at our Philippine ancestry requires going back to way before the Philippines was supposedly discovered by its colonizers.

To him, this approach in education will teach Filipino students that there are things in our culture that had long been there even before the colonizers set foot on our islands.

In a lecture to high school students held last week in Quezon City, Dr. Jocano said students must approach Philippine history “going back (way before colonization) and not just start with colonization.”

Dr. Jocano, a Ten Outstanding Young Men awardee in 1965, is the first to hold a PhD in Anthopology in the Philippines.

Dr. Jocano hinted that Philippine history has been focused on the negative aspect of our culture that “when we speak of culture, we go to Juan Tamad.”

“Education must be geared towards nation-building,” he stressed.

During the lecture titled “Yaman ng Lahi” and organized by C. Futures Inc., historyko.org and Teachers@Work, Dr. Jocano was accompanied by his son and namesake, Professor Felipe Jocano Jr. of the University of the Philippines.

Dr. Jocano cited the Filipino epics, some of which he had studied and translated himself.

One of those was “sung to me by a mountain elder” for two to three weeks, he said. It took the woman two to three weeks to finish singing the epic, which according to Dr. Jocano was consistent and long.

“For a 65-year-old woman to memorize it is simply amazing,” he said, noting that the epic has some 28,000 lines.

According to Dr. Jocano, these epics, which form part of the Filipinos’ oral tradition, usually talk about courtship and love, very much different from the European epics that depict stories about wars and battles.

“We always look at Iliad and Odyssey (that) we have escaped looking at our backyard for possible literature,” he said.

Dr. Jocano also cited that long before the country was colonized and modern technology supposedly came to the Philippines, the locals already had their way of embalming the dead and even their own form of government.

Professor Jocano Jr. said that while a lot has been said about the supposed negative trait among Filipinos, these characteristics have a rather positive side to them.

The example he cited was the “bahala na” concept, which to outsiders might appear as not recognizing responsibility and total resignation.

But Professor Jocano Jr. said “there’s something wrong with this definition.” He noted that the concept was actually the assumption of responsibility for whatever the outcome of something may be.

According to Prof. Jocano Jr., we should change the way we view our identity as a nation and our value system towards our race.

“We should not apologize for being Filipinos,” he said.

By Reinir Padua (The Philippine Star) 
Updated December 09, 2010 

Early registration day for preschool, Grade 1 children scheduled on Jan 29

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) said that it was all set for the early registration day scheduled on Jan. 29.

In DepEd Order No. 2, Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the early registration day targets all five-year-olds to be enrolled in kindergarten and all six-year-olds in Grade 1.

Early registration is also mandated in public secondary schools to guarantee the enrolment of incoming first year students in their preferred high school.

“Early registration is in line with our efforts to ensure that DepEd remains on track in meeting our MDG targets and Education For All (EFA) commitment as the 2015 deadline comes closer. We are doing every possible means to uphold this commitment of reaching all children of school age,” said Luistro.

The pre-registration will allow the DepEd to get a picture of the student population for the coming school year and determine interventions needed to ensure that the EFA commitment is met.

Luistro added that DepEd will work closely with local government units, barangay officials, parents, civic organizations, business sector and other education stakeholders to make the necessary preparations and address potential needs when classes open in June.

“With early registration, the department will also have enough time to come up with education interventions and prevent students from dropping out of school,” the order stated.

According to Luistro, the DepEd was keen on convincing parents pre-register their children and help DepEd in bringing their children to schools, keep them there and finish basic education.

In previous years, DepEd conducted early enrollment activity in secondary level in line with its Drop-Out Reduction Program (DORP). But this is the first time that the department goes full throttle in the ground mapping of school-aged children for early registration in all three levels – kindergarten, elementary, and secondary.

The advocacy campaign has started with Child or Youth Find Activities last January 10 and will be conducted up to 28 at the DepEd division and school levels in collaboration with the barangay.

Children from indigenous cultural communities and the Special Education (SPED) centers that cater to children with disabilities shall also be mobilized to ensure early registration of the targeted enrollees.

The Philippine Star, January 13, 2011 
By Rainier Allan Ronda

P271.6B 2011 education budget biggest in Phl history – P-Noy

President Aquino said that the P271.67 billion education appropriation in the 2011 budget, already passed in the Senate, surpasses the education allocations of any of his predecessors.

“We have committed more resources to primary and secondary education to ensure that the children of the 4.6 million (poorest of the poor) families have schools to go and then be provided with skills for sustainable livelihood,” Aquino said in his speech after leading groundbreaking rites for a P200-million Medical City here last Monday.

“This is the reason why we have increased the education budget in 2011 by 16 percent or to P271.67 billion,” he added. Last Dec. 2, the Senate passed the proposed budget of P1.6 trillion for 2010.

He stressed that “no other administration has spent this much on education.”

This, even as the President also said that the 2010 budget as already passed in the Senate, also provides an 11 percent increase in the budget for state universities and colleges (SUCs), contrary to claims that funds for government tertiary schools have been slashed lower.

“Despite the claims of some elements that we have cut the budget for state universities and colleges, we have actually increased the total appropriations that they will receive by more than 11 percent,” the President said. Budget already approved by the Senate “can confirm this,” he added.

SUCs held recently a series of protest rallies directed at the President and Congress over alleged big cuts in state funding for the tertiary education institutions. At least 87 SUCs held various forms of protests. Even the conservative Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) joined the protest actions.

The protesters had quoted the President himself announcing 1.7 percent slash of budget for 112 SUCs nationwide. The President was quoted as having said: “We are gradually reducing the subsidy to SUCs to push them toward becoming self-sufficient and financially independent, given their ability to raise their income and to utilize it for their programs and projects.”

In an interview with the STAR, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said “we are concerned about SUC’s but there’s just too many of them.”

“Just because they are not getting enough does not mean the government has already abandoned them. We are in a discussion with the Commission on Higher Education as we look at rationalizing SUCs so we can truly have worthy centers of tertiary excellence,” said Abad.

By Ding Cervantes (The Philippine Star) 
Updated December 09, 2010

DepEd introduces mobile school to lighten illiteracy problem

“At ang salita ay naging gawa,” (And the word came into action). This is how Education Secretary Armin Luistro describes the country’s first Alternative Learning System on mobile bus. Luistro referred to the support of the public service channel UNTV and the benevolent group, the Ang Dating Daan, to anti-illiteracy campaign.

The project called “Dunong-Gulong ng ALS” currently has two buses to carry out its initial operation.

The Dunong-Gulong bus can accommodate 30 learners at a time. UNTV equipped the buses with LCD monitor for visual presentation, teacher’s desk, projectors, laptop, cabinets, and a library in a separate section. However, the teaching service doesn’t stop there as the mobile classroom extends outside the bus to accommodate more students. Portable tables and chairs and other necessary equipment for outdoor schooling is also provided such as projector and appropriate sound system.

For the mobile teacher’s and other personnel accommodation, the buses are equipped with room and toilet.

Photo shows Secretary Luistro and Daniel Razon of UNTV signing the Dunong-Gulong memorandum of agreement.

The Philippine Star
Updated December 09, 2010

DepEd-LGUs partnership to narrow gap in classroom shortage

MANILA, Philippines – The Departments of Education (DepEd), Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), have signed a pact that provides DepEd and provincial governments are to share 50-50 in the costs of constructing public school buildings. 

Education Secretary Armin Luistro, DBM and former DepEd Secretary Florencio Abad, and LPP president and Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso Umali Jr. signed the memorandum of agreement that will commit the DepEd and the provincial governors for a partnership in building more classrooms and school buildings to address the acute classroom shortage in public schools. Currently, classroom shortage in the country stands at over 152,000 on a single shift to meet the 1:45 ideal classroom-students ratio. Based on the MOA, the three LGU groups are expected to execute legal documents to vest DepEd with full ownership of the classrooms and the land on which they stand after completion of the classroom construction. 

According to Luistro, the commitment of LPP, the LCP and the LMP gives DepEd more confidence that the classroom shortage will be addressed soon. 

“Education being the great equalizer, this partnership will be the concrete embodiment and manifestation of democracy in action at the grassroots level. Kung maraming provincial, city at municipal governments ang lalahok sa programang ito ng bayanihan sa eskwelahan, malamang mabibigyang solusyon natin ang kakulangan sa silid-aralan sa lalong madaling panahon,” Luistro said. 

While the MOA does not guarantee 100 percent participation of LGUs, it nevertheless gives DepEd a certain level of assurance that it can bridge the school building gap knowing that many LGUs have chosen education as their advocacy. 

While DepEd budget allocation for 2011 increased by some 19 percent, it stressed that it could hardly keep pace with the resource requirements of at least one million new entrants to the public school system every year. 

Making matters difficult for DepEd was the new batch of pupils in kindergarten which has become compulsory beginning school year 2011-2012.

By Rainier Allan Ronda 
The Philippine Star; February 10, 2011

Forum on the literacy situation of Filipinos

The Literacy Coordinating Council will hold a Dissemination Forum on the  “State of Functional Literacy of Filipinos: Results of the 2008 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey” on March 2, 2011; 9:00 a.m. at the Pearl Hall of SEAMEO INNOTECH, Quezon City. The forum aims to inform education stakeholders on the literacy situation of Filipinos based on the results of the survey.

Conducted every five years by the National Statistics Office, the Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) is a national survey that gathers  information on the basic and functional literacy status of the population; their educational skills; qualifications; and exposure to mass media.

The results of the 2008 FLEMMS spell out literacy achievement that will help provide a clear picture of the scope of the country’s illiteracy problem, which is the focus of the forum. The forum will provide a platform for consolidating actions based on the results;  determine the policy and program implications of the results; and recommend possible courses of action to improve the literacy situation of the country.

The three previous rounds were conducted in 1989, 1994 and 2003.

The participants of the forum are national government agencies; non-government agencies; local government units; leagues of provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays; state colleges and universities; private organizations; and civil societies.