Two Philippine schools adopt Manila’s education reforms

SHARJAH: Two Philippine schools in the UAE have begun implementing Manila’s ambitious yet long overdue basic education reforms, the “K + 12 Educational Highway” (K12EH) for the academic year 2011-2012.

These are The New Filipino Private School (TNFPS) in Sharjah and the United International Private School (UIPS) in Dubai.

TNFPS has incorporated among its new policies for the current academic year the “adoption of the Enhanced Kindergarten Curriculum (EKC) based on the Department of Education’s (DepEd) recommendations.”

“We are now implementing the (EKC) as part of the K + 12 programme,” said TNFPS’s principal Luzviminda Corpuz.

She replied to The Gulf Today questionnaire e-mailed two weeks back on the opening of classes and specifically on what the administrators of the six Philippine schools in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah are doing in order to pursue as well as achieve an overhaul on the country’s basic education.

“Our parents and students are now being oriented to this programme, especially those who will really be required to have Grades 11 and 12 by 2016 and 2017,” Corpuz also wrote.

The ongoing orientation is part of a series of activities TNFPS has been conducting for the K12EH to be fully understood by its clients.

Corpuz attended a seminar on the need for the institutionalisation of the reforms, hosted by the Philippines’ DepEd officials at the agency’s training centre in Marikina City, Metro Manila, last May.

From the Metro Manila orientation-seminar, Corpuz secured a copy of a video clip on the K12EH, wherein DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro explained the reasons for the adoption of the programme.

The video clip was initially presented at the commencement exercises for the 2010-2011 elementary and high school graduates as well as during the recognition day last June.

Corpuz then explained “it would be the incoming grade six students” (currently enrolled in grade six) who would be the first to go through the combined four years of junior high school and the additional two years of senior high school for the academic year 2016-2017.

TNFPS management is now laying out plans for the classrooms and facilities needed for the “forthcoming Grades 11 and 12” as faculty development seminars as well as workshops are in the pipeline.

Additional materials and equipment for the improvement of classroom teaching has been undertaken.

Other new policies include the use of more multi-media presentations, the creation of special classes for pupils with no previous schooling but are forced to be in kindergarten 2 or grade one due to their age and the implementation of “remediation programmes for the non-readers in the primary levels.”

UIPS officer-in-charge, principal Mary Jane Onato, said its management had “rationalised” the school’s expenditures and budget “in order to maximise the (money needed) for additional classrooms, facilities, hiring of teachers and instructional materials,” including the adjustment to the faculty’s salaries.

Corpuz and Onato fully support the Aquino government’s thrust on K12EH.

They said the programme aimed at making the Filipino youth more prepared and more mature in entering the global workforce would result in better employment opportunities.

“They can demand for good salary and employment benefits,” said Onato.

The long overdue overhauling of the Philippines’ basic education has been a concern of Manila for decades as gleaned through various surveys and studies.

These were the 1925 Monroe Survey, 1930 Prosser Survey, 1949 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture Organisation Mission Survey, 1953 Education Act, 1960 Swanson Survey, 1970 Presidential Commission to Survey Philippine Education, 1991 Congressional Commission on Education Reforms, 2000 Presidential Commission on Education Reforms and 2008 Presidential Task Force on Education. –Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Gulftoday