Efleda P. Campos / Learning Editor
BEFORE he became secretary of the Department
of Education (DepEd) on June 30, 2010, Bro. Armin Luistro,
then-president of the De La Salle University System, was a vocal
proponent of reforms in the Philippine education system.
True to his
word, since taking over the helm of the DepEd, he has institutionalized
changes, foremost of which is the K+12 program, extending the number of
years in basic public education to include kindergarten. The first batch
of kindergartners was enrolled in public schools this year.
Luistro’s
mission centers on addressing five shortages that adversely affect the
quality of education in the Philippines: the lack of textbooks,
teachers, classrooms including desks and chairs, water and sanitation
facilities foremost of which are toilets, and electricity. He said that
7,950 schools in the country do not have water supply; 9,000 have no
electricity; and 4,000 do not have both.
“Our
schools are also desperately in need of toilets for the use of our
schoolchildren,” he told Education editors in a meeting on Friday.
He has engaged various stakeholders to help diminish and eventually end these shortages. He
has signed agreements with local government units (LGUs), other
government agencies, private schools, banks, private corporations,
foundations, cooperatives, and foreign institutions. He has also sought
the help of individuals, including “the rich and the famous,” overseas
Filipino workers and the public in general.
For
instance, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has
agreed to donate to the DepEd confiscated “hot logs” to be made into
school desks and chairs for public schools. Actively involved in this is
the Caraga region, the first LGU in the country to provide illegal logs
to the DepEd particularly for this purpose.
The
province of Abra, which is rich in bamboo resources, has begun to use
its plyboo, plywood made of bamboo, to build chairs and desks for some
of its public-school classrooms.
The
DepEd has also started to build small solar panels each costing between
P10,000 and P15,000 in cooperation with LGUs, among others, to supply
some schools with electricity.
Luistro
said the country’s public schools need 66,800 classrooms. Although the
DepEd’s budget was raised this year and is being increased for 2012,
“the resources are still not enough to fully address the problem.”
In a proactive move, the DepEd, with the help of the private-sector group 57-75 Education Reform Movement, has launched the Bayanihang Pampaaralan
“to solicit the support of companies and donor agencies to raise the
needed resources.” It is also promoting the “TEN Moves” campaign or “The
Entire Nation Moves” to engage ordinary citizens and provide even
“non-Filipino friends of the Philippines the opportunity to take part in
[the] effort to help address the classroom shortage.”
TEN
Moves, Luistro said, “is a campaign to raise enough resources to build
10,000 classrooms in public schools all over the Philippines [by having]
2 million people donate P10 per day for 10 months or P3,000.” Local
donors can make their donations through the Bank of the Philippine
Islands, BDO, and UnionBank via special accounts set up by the Ayala
Foundation; wire transfers; credit cards; and Globe Telecom Inc.’s
G-Cash.
Filipinos living abroad can donate $10 a month or $100 for the 10-month period via wire, telegraphic transfer or through www.tenmoves.org.
Luistro
said he expects two shortages to be eradicated by December 2011:
textbooks and teachers, adding that “we now have enough teachers in the
system.”
At
present, there are 20 million students in the Philippine public-school
system. Luistro expressed confidence that by year-end, 100 million
textbooks will be made available, with every student having a textbook
each for math, English, science, Filipino and social studies.
Since
he assumed the post of education secretary, Luistro, himself an
educator, has made at least 270 unannounced visits to various public
schools in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. His aim: To have an actual
feel of how schools are run and to assess for himself how pupils and
students view and react to their learning environment.
Luistro
said the DepEd has “flavors of the month,” projects to celebrate, for
instance, “Buwan ng Wika” in August and Teachers’ Month this month.
Highlighting September’s celebration of teachers is a DepEd campaign to
use all possible resources—the media, letters, the Internet via
Facebook, word of mouth and the like—to thank the particular teacher
“who has made a difference in our lives.” It will also join the entire planet commemorate World Teachers’ Day on October 5.
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