Addressing the deficiencies of BEC in public school pilot

(Part II of a series on P-Noy’s K-12 Education Plan)

In 1990, three major global and national programs affecting the Philippine educational system were launched: The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Education For All (EFA) and the Senate Congressional Commission (EDCOM) to survey the status of all schools in the Philippines from preschool, elementary school, high school, voc-tech schools, colleges and universities.

After 20 years what happened to EDCOM recommendations

When UNESCO, as a UN agency was founded in 1946, Early Childhood Education and Adult Literacy programs were initiated. During its 40th anniversary in 1986, noting the jump in world population and the worsening of poverty especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the world literacy movement was reinforced. By 1990, it became Education for All (EFA), summoning all UNESCO member states to make education accessible to millions of children still out of school in the far-flung coastal and mountain villages.

In response, Senator Ed Angara and Congressman Carlos Padilla set up EDCOM combining the Senate and Congressional education team to search thoroughly what ails the Philippine educational system. The discouraging discoveries that our children are not learning adequately were written in the EDCOM book, “A Nation at Risk” by Senator Angara. Japan funded the special EDCOM Taskforce between 1993-1995 to lay-out the plan to implement the recommendations of EDCOM, but the past two decades barely showed the transformation needed. Perhaps, this is what prompted the senator to call for another EDCOM.

The 1990 discovery of the inadequacies of Philippine education

What were the alarming observations? (1) Forty percent of Grade I children in the public school drop out in the middle of the year resulting in the increase of adult illiterates and unemployment. Preschool which ignites child competencies was not in the education ladder. DECS Secretary Lourdes Quisumbing established the Coordinating Council for Early Childhood in the Philippines to update ECE requirements. To prod Congress to institutionalize preschool, three national consultation conferences were held, but the ECE law took 20 years to pass (2007). (2) The Basic Education curriculum was found to be irrelevant thus weakening the quality of teacher training. The 2007-2009 BESRA (Basic Education Reform Agenda) attempt to reform teacher training and curriculum barely created an impact. (3) Principalship has disappeared for the principal acts more as a school custodian than an academic guide for teachers. Congress has never modified its legislation assigning the dual task of administration and academic supervision to the school principal, an impossible situation in any successful venture. In school management, the administrative officer and academic head requires two persons to attend and coordinate different concerns. (4) Since the Philippines acquired its independence from America, the task of monitoring and evaluation of school officers and teachers no longer continued. DECS (now DepEd) office responsible for this is inactive.

Professional evaluation and monitoring of the Pulung Bulu EFA-Dakar pilot

In 2000, after ten years, EFA was evaluated in Dakar, Africa. Although accessibility to education has improved in Latin America, Africa and Asia, quality of education remain missing. This prompted us to heed UNESCO Director General Matsuura’s call for the “EFA DAKAR framework of action” for quality education. In 2001, the O.B. Montessori Child and Community Foundation director Concepcion Suarez signed a MOA with Dr. Vilma Labrador, then the Region 3 Director to try out the affordable version of the Montessori system for the EFA-DAKAR quality school pilot in Pulung Bulu Elementary School, a central school in Angeles, Pampanga. Known as the Pagsasarili system, it has been successfully used since 1983, in six preschools of improved squatter areas in NCR. Partnering with LGUs of San Juan, Caloocan, Pasig, Las Piñas, Marikina and Pasay, the Pagsasarili schools developed preschoolers who readily acquire third grade competencies and self confidence in work. Guided by their specially trained teachers, they made use of selected Montessori Materials in Practical Life, Language, Math and Science.

In 2004, the EFA-DAKAR public school pilot for K-10 classes was inaugurated in the presence of then DepEd Secretary Edilberto de Jesus, who remarked that the pilot is “a promising solution to the dilemma of accessibility and quality.” It took us three years to re-train the existing public school pre-school and Grade I-III teachers in Pagsasarili principles and practice mastering the use of Pagsasarili apparata. My husband’s friends, the Lhuilliers, the Aboitizes, Jose Mari Chan, Ising Vasquez and Ricky Razon pitched in to rebuild a “lahar” damaged school cottage into a two-storey school building to house the K-10 classroom. Training during the 6 weeks of summer (inclusive of refresher courses for three more years) required my regular supervision and the weekly monitoring by our senior O.B. Montessori teachers from our branch along MacArthur Highway. The Pulung Bulu school campus, with 2,000 regular public grade school children is conveniently located behind it. Refresher courses had to be given to the teachers in the succeeding four years. Today, the school is a showcase for best practices among the seven provinces in Region 3.

How the 21st century Cosmic Curriculum can make up for the deficiency of BEC

To do our pilot, I kept reviewing the DepEd Makabayan Curriculum, the contents for Basic Education textbooks published by Rex, Sibs, Anvil, Abiva and Bookman. Makabayan curriculum simply lumps together Geography, History and Civics as HEKASI (Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika). It starts with primary school lessons of “Ako ay Pilipino.” Families live in communities, villages or towns within a province. The occupations of fishing, farming, business, health, legal professionals and technicians are exercised in all 17 regions.

The Philippines is part of the world map and is one of the ASEAN countries. Grade V and VI enumerate the seven stages of Philippine History, from pre-Spanish, Spanish, American, Japanese, the free Republic, military governance and the new Republic. Child rights and government services are mentioned.

In contrast to Makabayan which is country oriented, the Cosmic Curriculum of Pagsasarili is global. It provides a philosophy scheme, “the Cosmic Organization”, by which an illustrated poster shows people of the world in the Americas, China, Japan, Korea (temperate zone), Africa and Asia Pacific (tropical zone) and the Polar Region (frigid zone). Over them is the biosphere of the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms which provide the “fundamental needs of life” for food, clothing, shelter, etc. Another poster shows both “material needs” and “spiritual needs” (education, religion, art and entertainment.)

As early as Grade I, Geography classified and illustrated nomenclature cards with definition, “The Four Blankets of Planet Earth” enable the child to see the land blanket (lithosphere), water blanket (hydrosphere), air blanket (atmosphere) and the animal life, filling each blanket (the biosphere). Unless people conserve the cosmic order, mankind will not survive.

Hands on materials such as the Puzzle Maps of the World (7 pieces) of Asia (37 pieces, representing 43 countries) and the Philippines (17 pieces) ease the study of Geography and Earth Science.

Control maps indicating the corn, coconut, rice belts in our country as well as the existence of ports, hydro thermal sites, etc. excite the enormous reasoning power to remember better these natural resources.

The history time lines and basic economics

The economic history of a country is depicted by a pictorial narration: “Long ago, the family lived in small villages. The father taught the son farming while the mother taught her daughter how to keep house, cook and baby sit. There was a small multi-grade school, a convenience store and a village doctor. (An ideal video series “Little house on the Prairie” depicts this village life beautifully.)

When the population grew, several villages became large towns with bigger stores and establishments. This required larger schools, hospitals, courthouses and several roads. How can all of these be financed? People must contribute part of their money. This is called taxes.

Every family is both a producer and consumer. The baker needs the doctor and vice versa. The children need teachers and teachers need the doctor, and carpenter and plumber. We call this the “interdependence of mankind.”

During the Industrial Revolution when machines made production faster and affordable, people could have enough savings which were safely kept in banks. A successful baker could make a loan to expand his store and hire more helpers.

(Next week: Cosmic Math)

(For more information and reactions, please e-mail at obexec@yahoo.com)

–Preciosa S. Soliven (The Philippine Star)