Education

(The following is excerpted from a paper delivered at the Ramon Magsaysay Award lecture series.) POVERTY and scarcity are proverbial constraints invoked to account for mediocrity in the education and training of the youth.

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Edgardo J. Angara has deplored the steady decline in the literacy rates as well as the quality of basic education in the country.

MOTHER TONGUE Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE) is the use of more than two languages for literacy and instruction. It starts from where the learners are and from what they already know. This means learning to speak, read, write and think in their first language or L1 (Cebuano, Tagalog, Ilocano, Waray, etc.) and also teaching mathematics,…

MANILA, Philippines – The UP Board of Regents has approved the offering of the Graduate Certificate in Distance Education (GCDE) by the UP Open University’s Faculty of Education for professionals who are looking for a formal introduction to the field of distance education (DE), including e-learning, and graduate-level training in developing and managing DE and…

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Education (DepEd) is seeking more than twice its current funding for the construction and repairs of school facilities across the country as officials hope to address the perennial shortage of classrooms and a backlog of repairs in public schools.

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday said that all public high schools in the country will have computer laboratories and Internet connectivity before the end of 2010. Mari Paul Soriano, the Education department’s Technical Services Director, said that only 813 out the country’s 6,650 public high schools have no computer laboratories and Internet access.

Feeding programs and conditional cash transfers are two of the strategies development agencies promote to boost students’ nutrition and school attendance. These days, intra-class interaction is also looked at as a crucial factor in improving the educational system.

The new Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Dr. Patricia B. Licuanan, presented her priority areas for the first 100 days of her term during the 1st Consultation Meeting held at the HEDC CHED Auditorium on September 1, 2010. She appointed Chairpersons of the Technical Panels.

MANILA, Philippines—In Valenzuela City early this year, fourth graders were given a Math quiz in Filipino while sixth graders took the same quiz in English. Who fared better? Surprise, surprise: The fourth graders who had taken the quiz in Filipino scored higher marks.

P.Noy’s commitment to extend the basic education cycle from 10 to 12 years has provoked adverse comments from activist groups, self-proclaimed “pro-poor” politicians, media commentators, and even some academics. It is time to step back and set the premises upon which people of goodwill can base the search for common ground.

Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro said the Kindergarten-12th Grade (K-12) education model will help high school graduates qualify for jobs without obtaining a college degree.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said it has initiated an investigation into the dismal passing rate of graduates in the different colleges and universities throughout the country who are taking different board licensure examinations given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

MORE public high school students will be making the jump to exclusive schools next year after the government hiked its tuition subsidy under a government assistance program.

MANILA, Philippines – The government will hire 10,000 new teachers next year, Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas said yesterday.

THE MOVE to expand our basic education to 12 years from the present 10 is not about quantity versus quality. It is about quality, period; or, more accurately, it is about the low quality of our education system. Philippine education is plagued by two major ills—the high attrition rate of our students and their low…

MANILA, Philippines – Education Secretary Armin Luistro yesterday denied allegations of the department’s employees union that he has illegally appointed several new officials and added an excessive number of consultants to the detriment of the department.

Today Malacañang submits to Congress the proposed P1.645-trillion national budget for 2011. According to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, the proposed budget is P104 billion higher than this year’s P1.541 trillion.

MANILA, Philippines—Public school students received barely passing marks in achievement tests in Filipino over the last five years, with high school students doing more poorly than grade schoolers, according to results of the elementary and secondary National Achievement Test (NAT).

MANILA, Philippines – Most college graduates in the country fail to pass licensure examinations, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) reported yesterday.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro yesterday clarified that contrary to claims by critics, the cost of adding two more years to the current 10-year education cycle may be lower than P100 billion.

At the end of the Curriculum Summit that I convened last month, I asked the participants what concerns other than those we had discussed during the session were urgent and important. They listed several, among which are the following. These concerns reflect the current thinking of our senior educators. I append my own take on…

THE HOUSE committee on basic education and culture has lined up priority bills anchored on four issues: language, science, facility and student financial aid.

BASIC EDUCATION ‘I will expand basic education in this country from a short 10-year cycle to a globally comparable 12 years before the end of (my) administration (2016)’ ——President Aquino Campaign platform “10 things I will fix in Philippine basic education”

IN A DISTANT town in Laguna, the day-care center is a cramped portion of the village hall half the size of a regular room. Every day, the day-care worker has to bring home her teaching tools on a wagon, since leaving them at the village hall will eat up space of the government office.

Passion For Reason THE GOVERNMENT plans to make children spend two more years in basic education. The plan is admirable in its boldness but worrisome in its impact on poor parents. Many poor children may thus be robbed of a credential, a high school diploma; however dubious or diluted, it may nonetheless spell the difference…

SCHOOLS VS TEACHERS MANILA, Philippines—The education community is divided on the proposal to extend the 10-year basic education cycle by two years.

During the campaign, Liberal Party standard-bearer Benigno Aquino 3rd came out with a basic education agenda crafted by his education team, raising from 10 to 12 the number of years to earn a high school diploma. This means seven years instead of six in elementary and five years instead of four in high school.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) will add yet another layer in its textbook evaluation process as it claims to embark on a move to shape up in the battle it is waging and so far losing against error-riddled textbooks procured by the department for use of public school children.

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – Budget Secretary Florencio Abad yesterday said there is no rush to implement the proposed additional two years in the 10-year basic education curriculum.

MANILA, Philippines – Seven in 10 Filipino students suffer from different forms of violence in schools, a recent study done by a private institution showed.