K to 12 ratified at Senate, Congress bicam committee

(PRESS RELEASE)

The Senate and the Congress have ratified the Bicameral Conference Committee report on the K to 12 Basic Education Reform program, needing just President Aquino’s signature to make it a law of the land.

Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC has expressed elation on the swift passage of the Bill in both houses. “I am very grateful for the support of our legislators in both houses and most especially the members of the Bicameral Committee co-chaired by Senator Edgardo Angara and Congresswoman Sandy Ocampo for shepherding the discussions and pushing for the harmonized version. I also remember with gratitude the late Congressman Salvador Escudero who supported us until his last days in Congress,” Luistro said.

He explained that the Bill, which is a product of extensive consultations with multiple stakeholders, provides DepEd with the legislative support to continue the reforms it has started and intends to pursue in close coordination with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

“We eagerly await the President’s signature on this important reform in our educational system which was part of his campaign promise,” added Luistro.

Luistro pointed out that DepEd will work even more assiduously to ensure that the implementation of this Basic Education Reform program will be sustained and institutionalized even beyond the Aquino administration.

All set for January 26 nationwide early registration in public schools

(PRESS RELEASE)

The Department of Education is targeting at least 10 million early registrants this Saturday when the department mobilizes its workforce and partner agencies for the nationwide early registration for school year 2013-2014.

“All systems go for this Saturday’s early registration of learners which we will conduct simultaneously nationwide for incoming kinder, regular students in all public schools as well as those who will avail of alternative delivery modes and learning systems,” said Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC.

DepEd is mobilizing the local government units, the parent teachers association, civic groups, non-government organizations and other education stakeholders to find school-aged children and youth who are out of school, register and bring them to school when school year 2013-2014 opens in June.

All five year olds are also enjoined to be registered for enlistment in kinder class in all public schools as well six year olds for registration in Grade 1 class.

Also targeted for early registration are differently-abled children and youth with learning difficulties, those belonging to IP communities, street children and other school-aged learners who are out of school.

“We are duty-bound to make education accessible to all Filipino learners and this is part of our commitment to make Education For All (EFA) a reality,” Luistro explained.

DepEd and its partner agencies are working full throttle to ensure the success of the early registration which is being held in January every year. The information generated during the activity will be used to address possible resource gaps even before the regular school starts in June.

“Information is power and with the power of information we will be better equipped to bring more children to school and prevent their dropping out by providing the necessary intervention,” Luistro added.

Philippine Business Bank invests in the future of Pablo-affected students

(PRESS RELEASE)

In response to the call of the Department of Education to help students affected by typhoon Pablo in Mindanao, Philippine Business Bank donated P1,000,000 for the construction of one classroom and the implementation of a feeding program in Sangab Elementary School in Davao Oriental.

Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC personally accepted the check worth P1M from the Philippine Business Bank represented by its President and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Rolando Avante.

During their Christmas Party, the Philippine Business Bank chose not to push through with their raffle draw and instead donate the amount for prizes to the student victims. Some employees also donated cash.

“The Philippine Business Bank also focuses in helping improve our education. We believe that when you educate people, you give them life. So the best way to help out the victims of Pablo is to help our schools,” Avante told.

Alice Rodil, Senior Vice President of the Philippine Business Bank and DepEd Assistant Secretary for Legal and Legislative Affairs Tonisito Umali were also present during the simple turnover ceremony.

As the government continues to bring back normalcy to Region XI and CARAGA, DepEd still accepts donations for all the victims, particularly school supplies. Donations may be dropped off at the following locations: DepEd Central Office – Ampitheater, Meralco Ave, Pasig City; DepEd Cebu Regional Office, Sudlon, Lahug, Cebu City; and DepEd Davao Regional Office, F. Torres Street, Davao City from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Cash donations are also accepted via DepEd’s Landbank OSEC Trust Fund, Account number: 0672-1000-20. Donors are requested to send a copy of the deposit slip to DepEd Cash Division at telefax no: 6337220 for accounting and documentation purposes.

DepEd targets PWDs for early registration on January 26

(PRESS RELEASE)

The Department of Education is working closely with government and private organizations dealing with people with disabilities (PWDs) to ensure that children and youth with learning difficulties are identified and registered during the nationwide early registration set on January 26, 2013.

Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC said that the department is committed to providing all learners access to education under the millennium development goals which include the universalization of basic education.

“We have directed Special Education officials, teachers, NGO workers and PWD volunteers to conduct an orientation on the screening and identification of children and youth with disabilities so that they too can be registered and be in school in June,” added Luistro.

PWDs who are target of registration are children and youth with visual impairment, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, learning disability, speech/language impairment, serious emotional disturbance, those with autism, orthopedic impairment, those special health problems and multiple disabilities.

Aside from PWD learners, also targeted for early registration children are indigenous peoples, out of school children and youth who have not been to school including street children from ages 5 to 18. The nationwide early registration in public elementary and public schools is conducted each year for DepEd to have a clear picture of the total number of expected enrollees and  be able to address enrolment challenges that may arise.

Meanwhile, learners who have dropped out from elementary or secondary school and want to go back to formal school can avail of alternative delivery modes such as the Modified In-School and Off-School Approach (MISOSA) and the electronic Instructional Management by Parents, Community and Teachers (e-IMPACT).

Moreover, learners who want to enroll in the Drop-Out Reduction Program (DORP) or in the Alternative Learning System (ALS) are required to present their report card to the teacher –in charge during registration. If a report card is not available, a certification letter (certification letter certifying/stating what) signed by the parent or guardian could be presented.

DepEd sets conduct of 2013 NAT in March

(PRESS RELEASE)

The Department of Education has set the conduct of the 2012-2013 National Achievement Test (NAT) to March this year for selected levels of elementary and high school students in public and private schools nationwide.

Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC said the NAT for fourth year students of public and private schools is set on March 6, 2013. For Grade 3 pupils of public and Madrasah schools, the date of exam is March 12. On March 13, it is the turn of Grade IV pupils of public and private schools to take the NAT.

NAT is administered annually by DepEd to gauge the academic performance in key subjects of   elementary and secondary students in both public and private schools.

Luistro added that only private elementary and secondary schools with permit to operate from DepEd shall be included in the conduct of the test. Each examinee in Grade IV NAT shall be issued with a Certificate of Rating (COR) per subject area which will reflect the examinee’s readiness for secondary education.

Related to this, the National Education and Testing Research Center (NETRC) of DepEd will conduct the national conference on the standardized administration of the NAT, the Test of English Proficiency for Teachers (TEPT) and the Process Skills Test (PST).

“Our goal here is to update information and resolve issues and concerns in the conduct of tests,” said Luistro.

Up for discussion in the national conference are the proper conduct of tests, standard procedure in test administration, security of test materials, allocation, delivery and retrieval, information derived from the individual (COR), utilization, dissemination of findings and implication of test results as well as financial matters related to test administration.

Deped mobilizes personnel and partners for January 26 early registration in public schools

(PRESS RELEASE)

The Department of Education is mobilizing its resources and personnel nationwide to ensure the success of the nationwide early registration on January 26, 2013 and bring all school-aged children and youth including those with learning difficulties to school.

Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC has directed school officials from the DepEd regional and division offices to work closely with parents, the local government units, civil society groups, barangay and Sanggunian Kabataan officers in the conduct of child and youth find activities to ensure their registration for school year 2013-2014.

“We have set January 7 to 26, 2013 for child and youth find activities with January 26 as the actual early registration day in all public schools across the country,” Luistro said.

Based on Deped Order 89 series of 2012, the schools’ submission and sorting of registration data is scheduled from January 28 to February 1, 2013 while the dates covering February 4 to March 1, 2013 are the dates set aside to map- out plans to address resource gaps and implementation of different program interventions.

Aside from regular students in all public elementary and secondary schools, also being targeted for early registration are children from indigenous cultural minorities, street children and those who have learning difficulties.

DepEd conducts the annual early registration day every January to enable it to collate information on the expected enrollees come June and to come up with contingency measures for issues and concerns that may arise. “We also want to ensure that we can bring as many learners to school- whether they are regular students, drop-outs, first time enrollees or out-of- school children and youth.”

Based on the Deped Order, children who are born on October 31, 2008 or earlier shall be eligible for early enrolment in kindergarten while those born on October 31, 2007, with or without kindergarten experience can enroll in Grade 1.

The birth certificate of the child shall be the documentary basis of the age requirement for early registration. If such is not available during the early registration day, the document can be submitted before the school opening in June or within the school year.

DepEd targets over 40,000 severely-wasted pupils for feeding program

(PRESS RELEASE)

The Department of Education’s school-based feeding program (SBFP) targets over 42,000 severely-wasted beneficiaries in the person of children suffering from undernutrition to bring them back to health and improve their school performance.

Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC said the feeding program which is being implemented since October 2012 up to March 2013 provides nutritious meals to selected pupils suffering from severe malnutrition for 100 to 120 feeding days.

“Our specific target here are children who come to school on an empty stomach which results to absenteeism or poor school performance. This short-term hunger syndrome is observed among public elementary school children who do not eat breakfast or walk long hours to reach school,” Luistro explained.

Initially called breakfast feeding program, it was renamed SBFP so as not to limit the feeding to breakfast only and so that schools can decide what time to conduct the feeding program that will best address the nutritional needs of learners. It targets to cover some 42, 372 kindergarten to Grade 6 pupils from identified severely wasted children based on the nutritional status report of August 31, 2012. It aims to rehabilitate at least 70% of the severely-wasted beneficiaries to normal nutritional status at the end of the feeding days.

“At the end of the day, we want these target school children to improve their classroom attendance to up to 100% by improving   their health and nutritional status,” Luistro added.

The SBFP has developed standardized recipes using malunggay and a 20-day cycle menu utilizing locally-grown vegetables produced from school gardens.

Schools not identified as SBFP beneficiaries may collaborate with the local government unit, non-government organizations, parent- teachers associations and other community stakeholders for the implementation of similar feeding programs.

END

DepEd continues efforts to bring school operations back to normal

(PRESS RELEASE)

The Department of Education continues to mobilize its personnel in school   divisions damaged by Typhoon Pablo that swept Davao Oriental and CARAGA in December to bring back normalcy in school operations.

Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC said that as of January 11, 2013, some 71, 586 textbooks have been delivered to the affected areas. “These comprise the initial replenishment of textbooks which we sourced from regional and central office stocks,” added Luistro.

Moreover, 200 additional tents that will serve as temporary classrooms and debriefing areas have been procured and are expected to be fully delivered in affected areas by the first week of February.

“As much as possible, we do not allow interruption of classes so that while repair and rehabilitation works are in progress, we have tents to serve as temporary classrooms,” the Secretary said.

DepEd has likewise conducted a refresher course for some 60 trainers who will provide students with Modified In-School and Off-School Approach (MISOSA) and electronic Instructional Management by Parents, Community and Teachers (e-IMPACT). These are alternative delivery modes being implemented by DepEd to reach out to learners who are out of the formal system because of various reasons such as calamities.

“We have this lined up on the 4^th week of January so that we can make education accessible to our learners while rehabilitation works are on-going,” Luistro explained.

The initial cash donation of P2million has benefitted school kids in over 200 temporary learning spaces in Davao Oriental and over 4,000 affected students in CARAGA region.

January 26 is early registration day in all public schools nationwide

(PRESS RELEASE)

The Department of Education announces the nationwide early registration on January 26 of students in all public elementary and secondary schools to achieve universal participation and completion of basic education.

Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC said the annual event manifests DepEd’s thrust to bring all school-aged children to school and bring the out- of- school youth back to the classroom.

“We are enlisting the assistance of local and barangay officials for the early registration of out-of-school children (OSC) and out-of-school youth (OSY),   those with difficulty in learning and the indigenous peoples (IPs),” Luistro said.

Based on DepEd Order No. 89 series of 2012, January 26, 2013 is declared as Early Registration Day for school year 2013-2014.

The specific target of early registration are all five-year olds to ensure their enrolment in kindergarten and all six-year olds to ensure their registration for Grade 1.

Also target of early registration are OSC and OSY from the disadvantaged groups including street children ages 5 to 18. Luistro said they will be provided their preferred education delivery system which could either be formal through alternative delivery mode (ADM) or alternative learning system (ALS).

The early registration will also enable DepEd to closely work with the LGUs, the Parent Teachers Associations, barangay officials, civil society groups, civic organizations and the business sector among others to make the necessary preparation and address potential gaps that may arise.

“We want to make the June school opening as smooth as possible and as   universally participated in as possible, that is why we are doing the preparation as early as January,” Luistro explained.

Quezon-based students win big in UNESCO competition

(PRESS RELEASE)

A team of students from Lopez National Comprehensive High School from Quezon Province won first prize in United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Bangkok’s Better Learning, Better Life competition. 

The contest was participated in by students from across the Asia-Pacific including Australia, China, India, Iran, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines who shared their vision on the future of education through both written submissions and video entries.

UNESCO Bangkok asked the youth of the region: What kind of skills will be needed for the future? What should young people learn and how should they learn it? The answer can either be  written or in video form.

The winning Lopez National Comprehensive High School students answered via a video presentation identifying “innovative teachers as the ultimate resource” and that learning “out of the box” is the type of learning crucial for the youth to lead a better life and a better future.

The Quezon-based students received tablet computers from UNESCO Bangkok as prize for their winning entry.

“We share in the happiness of our young students who correctly pointed out that innovative teachers as well as non-traditional student- learners are important factors in shaping a bright future for education,” Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC said.