Tech-voc eyed under K+12

By Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) Updated May 29, 2011 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Technical and vocational education will be integrated in the proposed “K+12” model for the country’s basic education system, effectively adding two more years to high school, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) director general Joel Villanueva said yesterday. “The K+12 model will make technical-vocational education a staple for high school students, giving our youth the chance to develop their potentials in the early stage of schooling,” Villanueva said in a statement. K+12 covers kindergarten and the six years of elementary, four years of junior high school and two years of senior high school and secondary education. At present, the Philippine basic education system comprises only kindergarten, six years in elementary and four years in high school. According to Villanueva, the two additional years in high school would be for “in-depth specialization for students, depending on the occupation or career they wish to pursue.” He said with the new model, technical and vocational education would be “one of the tracks to be included during the latter years of the secondary level, particularly in the 11th and 12th years, allowing students to explore their potentials in hands-on skills-based training as an option for future career development.” “The global imperative for more jobs and more productive jobs is a major challenge for development, and workers’ skills are at the core of improving individuals’ employment outcomes and increasing countries’ productivity and growth,” he added. Villanueva has also underscored the need for TESDA, the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to “coordinate closely with one another in pursuing a seamless, harmonized and borderless education system.” At present, public and private technical institutions are required to get prior authority from TESDA for their technical vocational education and training programs. TESDA grants permits through its Unified Technical Vocation Education and Training (TVET) Program Registration and Accreditation System or UTPRAS. Graduates are required to undergo assessment before they are issued certificates of competency, the same way professionals get their licenses from the Professional Regulation Commission. In 2010, more than 1.3 million graduates got TVET certification. “Faced with global and domestic challenges and changing economic environment as well as skills development issues and concerns, our TVET system shall be directed toward the development of a skilled Filipino workforce that meets the requirements of the 21st century,” Villanueva said. Slight dip Meanwhile, Education Secretary Armin Luistro clarified that the 2010 cohort survival rate for elementary and high school students across the country posted only a “slight dip” and was not a downtrend. The cohort survival rate is the percentage of students who are able to go up to the next higher level. “There was no downward trend especially for elementary. There was a slight dip in that of high school. It went down by a bit,” Luistro said. Luistro was reacting to a report in The STAR on the figures he presented during the National Education Summit organized by the DepEd, the CHED, and TESDA last Wednesday. He said there was no drastic drop even in the National Achievement Test (NAT) results from 2005 to 2010. He said the effects of reforms he is implementing would not be felt immediately. “Whatever reforms you do, it will take a long time to see the results,” he said. But a check by The STAR showed that the mean percentage NAT score of students dropped steadily from 49.26 percent in school year 2007-2008 to 47.40 percent in 2008-2009, and eventually to 46.30 percent in 2009-2010. Elementary school achievement test results, on the other hand, showed slight gains from 64.81 percent in 2007-2008, to 66.33 percent in 2008-2009, and to 69.21 percent in 2009-2010. For the elementary level, the cohort survival rate in 2007-2008 was at 75.26 percent, while in 2008-2009 it was at 75.39 percent. The figure retreated to 74.38 percent in 2009-2010. For the high school level, the cohort survival rate was pegged at 79.91 percent in 2007-2008, 79.73 in 2008-2009, and down to 78.44 percent in 2009-2010. Earlier, Alliance of Concerned Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said the DepEd and CHED should present the true state of education in the country. “In previous years, we have always heard rosy statistics from DepEd about the supposed improving achievement levels. Now, we see the true picture of the ugly state of affairs,” Tinio said. “These are bleak statistics that should be highlighted to force the government to take more drastic action to arrest the deterioration of the state of education by allotting more resources to education in the next few years,” he added. - With Rainier Allan Ronda

DepEd to teach ‘rule of law’ in schools

05/29/2011 | 01:10 PM

Soon, the “rule of law" will be integrated as a subject in the country's basic elementary and high school education curriculum.

The Department of Education (DepEd) has already lesson guides (teaching exemplars) integrating concepts of the rule of law into the basic education curriculum under its project PERLAS or Public Education on the Rule of Law Advancement and Support.

“PERLAS, now on its second phase, aims to educate and inform the public, especially the students in public elementary and high schools, on the functioning of a society anchored on the justice system," the DepEd said in a news release posted on the government portal.

DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro said PERLAS, once finalized, will be fully integrated in the elementary and secondary curricula with the aim of going “beyond the lessons in mathematics, science, English, and other subjects" and to “mold the students into becoming responsible and law-abiding citizens."

Initial teacher training on how to fully use the exemplars was also conducted, with the participation of 112 teachers from 82 schools all over the country, 46 of whom teach in high schools and 66 in elementary schools.

The exemplars were tested in 100 public schools in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Feedback based on the testing results was used in the revision and improvement of the exemplars.

Lawyers from the Supreme Court (SC) and Libertás ensured the accuracy of the exemplars’ legal content, while education officials reviewed the lesson plans in terms of their appropriateness and relevance to the basic education curriculum.

Libertás executive director Atty. Roberto Cadiz stressed the “urgent need for today’s youth to learn the Rule of Law."

“Dapat maaga pa lang, maituro na sa mga kabataan ang pagrespeto sa batas. Nagiging kapansin-pansin sa ating lipunan na punong-puno tayo ng mga maling interpretasyon sa batas o kaya naman, maraming tao ang hindi gumagalang at nagrerespeto sa batas," said Cadiz.

(The youth must be taught early on to respect the law. Quite conspicuously our society has been plagued with much misinterpretation of and disrespect for the law.)

He said that with this integration, “basic education can help the students develop the core values needed to establish a just society."

First phase PERLAS

SC Chief Judicial Reform Program Officer Dennis Russell Baldago said PERLAS is the judiciary’s own little contribution to education and to the country.

“The Supreme Court wanted to create something that can help Filipinos realize their power—that by mere observance of our laws, they have the power to transform the society. PERLAS is a long-term investment for the children," said Baldago.

PERLAS-Phase 1 had created 100 model lesson plans, 60 for elementary and 40 for high school.

The lesson plans, which touch on a variety of topics centering on the basic concepts of the rule of law, were designed by curriculum writers from the DepEd and the University of the Philippines.

“Concepts such as gender equality, environmental sustainability, and citizens’ and indigenous peoples’ rights are also integrated. The lesson plans also emphasize the importance of having a strong judicial system and the roles that all citizens should play to help make that system work," the DepEd said.

At the high school level, the PERLAS exemplars teach the students the concept of citizens’ participation in governance processes, and the accountability of government institutions.

Also, a “Manual for High School Students," which discusses subjects ranging from the Philippine legal system to the application of legal concepts, was written by lawyer Racquel Ruiz-Dimalanta of Libertás for reference of teachers and students.

PERLAS is a joint project of the DepEd, Supreme Court, Lawyers’ League for Liberty (Libertás), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and funding institutions such as USAID, World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank. — MRT, GMA News

Book publisher brings PHL folklore to iPad

05/18/2011 | 02:30 PM

Local book publisher Vibal Publishing House unveiled on May 15 a new set of bilingual interactive storybook applications on the Apple iPad, bringing Philippine folklore to the fingertips of Filipino and foreign readers throughout the globe.

With the release of the new iPad apps, Vibal Publishing becomes the first local publisher to deploy English and Filipino interactive editions of its children’s storybook series Chikiting Books on both the iPad and Android-driven devices, the company said in its website.

The two new storybook apps, entitled “Mariang Sinukuan: The Goddess and Keeper of Mt. Arayat" and “Pagpapagayuk: The Magical Bird of Bukidnon", both penned by award-winning writer Eugene Evasco, are now available for download from the Apple AppStore. To download, one has to have an account on the iTunes.

The new iPad apps feature English and Filipino language options, customized animation, voiced narration, background music, and sound effects, all of which can be turned on and off at the readers option, Vibal said.

A third title in the folklore genre, “Amansinaya: Goddess of the Sea", is set to be released on the Appstore in time for the formal unveiling of the digital edition of “The Magical Shirt (Ang Mahiwagang Kamiseta)" at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore on May 27, the company added. — Newsbytes.ph

La Salle Green Hills to try e-tablets instead of books

abs-cbnNEWS.com

Posted at 05/27/2011 9:39 PM | Updated as of 05/28/2011 2:35 PM

MANILA, Philippines - This coming school year, La Salle Green Hills in Mandaluyong City will issue 500 electronic tablets (e-tablets) to selected students to lessen their burden in carrying books.

The device was designed by information technology expert Jun Lozada, known to the public as the star witness in the NBN-ZTE scandal.

It can hold as many as 10,000 books, Lozada said.

"Nang ma-diagnose ang anak ko ng scoliosis, tinanong ko ang doktor ng posibleng dahilan 'non. Isa ang mabigat na bag sa kanyang dinahilan," Lozada told ABS-CBN News. An orthopedic surgeon earlier said, however, that carrying heavy bags does not cause scoliosis.

Those who will avail of the device will have to pay P14,500 on top of tuition fees.

If proven to be helpful, the e-tablet will be offered to all students of La Salle Green Hills next year, the school said. -- Report from Karen Davila, ABS-CBN News

Experts urge fast-tracking ‘technopreneurship’ in schools

Saturday, 07 May 2011 17:08 Ramon Efren R. Lazaro / Correspondent 

“TECHNOPRENEURSHIP”—merging technological prowess and entrepreneurial skills—is considered the source of power in today’s knowledge-based economy, experts claim, adding that technopreneurs are considered future wealth creators and economy drivers of the country.

 

Unfortunately, only a few Philippine agri-entrepreneurs engage themselves in business supported by science and technology based on the observations by Dr. Dinah Depositario and her research team at the University of the Philippine Los Baños (UPLB).

In their study titled “Entrepreneurial skill enhancement needs of potential technopreneurs: Focus on agrirelated technologies,” the team of Depositario found out that quite a number of the current technology developers and technopreneurs were in their 50s and 60s, respectively, because they started to engage in technopreneurship only when retired or separated from the university.

The team also observed that a substantial number of them had doctorate and masteral degrees in various basic and applied sciences.

They also noted that there were only a few technology developers who were currently into entrepreneurship and these were not technology-based business. The team further observed that not one of the students presently enrolled was involved in any capacity in any business venture.

The study showed that the technology developers and students in UPLB lack certain critical personal entrepreneurial competency traits possessed by entrepreneurs.  The mean scores for opportunity seeking and risk taking were found to be significantly different between the current technopreneurs and technology developers, and student groups.

One technology developer viewed technopreneurship as the process of commercializing the technology per se but not necessarily being involved in venturing into any business and such view seemed to reflect why only a few are engaging in technopreneurship.

One of the most frequently cited perceived hindrances of College of Agriculture students was the lack of technical background. The teaching methodologies of technical course professors and their course requirements were not also entrepreneurial-oriented.

Based on the results of the study, the researchers saw the need to cultivate an entrepreneurial culture among UPLB faculty members, researchers and students to fast track the promotion of technopreneurship at UPLB. They also saw the need for the university to look into the traits that have to be enhanced among UPLB technology developers and students.

The research team also recommended adjustments in teaching methodologies to accommodate entrepreneurial skill enhancement activities. Lastly, they also recommended that technology commercialization and technopreneurship-related policies and other support mechanisms be firmly put in place in UPLB, the UP system, and the national level.

Mothers band together to save school

By Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:26:00 05/07/2011

PONTEVEDRA, Negros Occidental, Philippines—In the village of Zamora in this sugar town, the mothers no longer waste their time on gossip.

After doing their chores, they dress up, fix their hair, put on a little lipstick and gather at the Community Learning Center, where they make cassava cake and longganisa (sausage) or practice hair and beauty lessons on each other.

“Before, they didn’t make use of their spare time. When they finished their chores, they went to their neighbors’ and just gossiped. I was dismayed at the mothers because it was like they didn’t care if their children went to school or not,” said Lourdes Quisio, principal of the village elementary school.

“Now they are busy. I see them working at the Community Learning Center every afternoon, and they even ask me what to do next,” said Quisio, a mother of three.

As a result, life has become sweeter in Barangay Zamora, a remote village tucked amid hectare upon hectare of sugar fields some two hours from Bacolod City.

The turning point came in the form of empowering mothers who spurred an explosion of community support for a school that was about to shut down due to dwindling attendance.

Mostly stay-at-home wives of sugar plantation workers, some 60 mothers here have found something productive to do through livelihood programs under “Strive” (Strengthening Implementation of Basic Education in the Visayas).

An initiative of the Australian Agency for International Development and the Department of Education, Strive aims to improve access to education in schools with severe dropout rates through tailor-made programs that target entire communities.

Aiming for systems reform in struggling public schools, Strive provided some P800 million in financial grants and technical assistance to 308 schools and communities in Negros Occidental, Bohol, Northern Samar, Iloilo, Cebu and Tacloban.

For the Pontevedra school, reading improvement programs and providing transportation meant growing attendance by almost a full class, taking back the children from the sugar fields. From 141 students three years ago, the school year closed in March with 180 students, Quisio said.

Solutions under Strive go beyond the school grounds. In the case of Barangay Zamora, Strive involves the students’ mothers and gives them the means to make it through the non-earning months.

“The milling season here is from October to April. After that, we go hungry,” said barangay councilor Rolando Verona.

Now earning incomes during the off season, the mothers learned the salon package, from doing hair treatments to nail care, practicing their skills on each other.

As a happy consequence, the Zamora women have learned to groom themselves better, encouraging their husbands to come home earlier, noted Quisio.

“Dati hindi maganda asawa niyo. Ngayon mabango na (Before your wives weren’t pretty. Now they smell nice),” joked Verona, a bachelor, addressing the other men at the table during the interview.

Other women of the community were taught how to turn cassava into cake and how to make sausages or longganisa. The goods, promptly labelled and packaged for store shelves, are sold in neighboring towns and provinces.

“They saw for themselves that they had those skills and, because of that, they took more responsibility for their children,” Quisio said.

DepEd to hire up to 13,000 teachers for coming school year

By Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:58:00 05/05/2011

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Education announced on Thursday its plan to hire up to 13,000 teachers to partially fill a shortage of some 50,000 teaching staff in the coming school year.

“Based on our 2011 allocations, we are hiring more than 10,000 permanent teachers based on the budget. Maybe we can include a few thousands more,” Education Secretary Armin Luistro said on Thursday.

“So maybe there will be 13,000 new teachers going into classrooms before June or within the month of June,” Luistro said.

The official made the announcement on the sidelines of an education conference of officials from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at the Ateneo Professional Schools in at Rockwell, Makati City.

During the conference, local government officials and regional educational officials set programs to attain education targets in the coming years, particularly preventing dropouts and bringing out-of-school youth back to schooling.

He said some teachers have been waiting in line to enter DepEd's teaching force while other applications may be pending.

Some 22 million students are expected to troop to public schools when classes resume on June 6.

DepEd is also hiring contractual teachers for the expected increase in kindergarten students by the coming school year. To date, some one million five-year-olds out of the target 2.4 million kinder-age students have signed up to enroll in public kindergarten by June.

Dare to dream (2)

Pinoy Kasi

By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:16:00 05/05/2011

LAST WEDNESDAY I talked about the speeches delivered at UP’s commencement exercises and recognition rites in Diliman, Los Baños, Cebu and Tacloban. I wrote about the speeches of President Aquino, Prof. Felipe Miranda and political science graduate Jayson Aguilar, all with strong exhortations to the new graduates to serve the Philippines.

I know many readers are probably shaking their heads, wondering if UP is indeed, as Jayson Aguilar described it, a lotto game for Filipino taxpayers, with possible large winnings that are far too infrequent. Is the national budget’s P5.7-billion allocation for UP worthwhile?

Bias aside, being a UP professor I would say yes, and that we are not “betting” enough on UP. Attending so many of these rituals this year, I’m actually more convinced than ever that UP does make a difference, if at least in terms of the opportunities it extends to young people.

For years now, attending these ceremonies, I’ve gotten to meet the parents of our UP graduates. Many are clearly from very humble origins. This became even clearer this year as I attended the commencement exercises in Cebu and in Tacloban, and this convinces me even more that without UP, so many bright young people would have no access not just to quality education, but to the diversity of course offerings that only UP has.

At the recognition rites of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, I incorporated into my welcome remarks the story of one of our graduates, a psychology major, who grew up in Mindoro but decided to take his chance early in life. When it was time for high school, he chose to go to Manila with an aunt, for a better education. He put himself through high school, got into UP and again put himself through college. It was often a hand-to-mouth existence, including having to postpone for several years a trip home to see his family because he just couldn’t save enough.

With graduation around the corner, he had to go home to visit his ailing mother. One of his professors, who had always been impressed with this student, kept me updated with all her worries that he would not be able to come back for graduation. He did make it, to graduate cum laude. Although he wants to go into medicine, he will have to work first to help support his family back in Mindoro, and to earn enough money for medical school.

Valedictorians
UP Diliman’s valedictorian, John Gabriel P. Pelias, who was featured in a front-page Inquirer story, is also from a family that was quite hard up. John Gabriel made it through college, graduating summa cum laude with what might be the highest grade point average ever attained by a UP student. Although a UP-subsidized scholar, he still had to work and had some help from faculty members. At the graduation ceremonies, he announced he intended to “pay back” by teaching at UP.

UP Cebu had its first summa cum laude with Michael Joaquin, also a math major. He talked about growing up as the eldest of nine children, his father opting to be a “houseband,” staying home to take primary responsibility for the children, while his mother worked as a government employee. (I found out later from faculty members that the father had once been a seafarer.)

At the college of veterinary medicine in Los Baños, the valedictorian was Jussiaea V. Bariuan, her father a UP employee. Jussiaea romped off not just with a cum laude but with most of the college’s awards for academic excellence.

These students are not atypical. At the commencement exercises, you could tell the parents were simple folk, people who have had to scrimp to be able to send their children to UP even with low tuition. Quite noticeable were the number of students who went up with one or both parents missing. I am certain these were children of overseas workers.

Whispers, temptations
Each graduate now carries the heavy responsibility of having to “pay back” parents, with expectations that might actually open them to the temptations of easy money, the many “whispers and temptations” that President Aquino alluded to in his commencement speech at Diliman.

The students certainly know they are people’s scholars but I’ve wondered, from the speeches of the students, if perhaps they themselves set too high a standard when they say that they now want to become “iskolar para sa bayan” (scholars for the nation).

In Tacloban, I narrated the story of Dr. Bobby de la Paz, who with his wife Sylvia chose to serve in impoverished Samar from 1978 to 1982. Their being in Samar raised suspicions among the military, as well as among the poor communities being served, that Bobby was a subversive.” He was assassinated one summer afternoon.

I just had to give Bobby’s story in Tacloban but qualified that I didn’t expect the students to all become doctors and to serve the poor.

There are many ways to serve, I told the Tacloban graduates, and this can start with our families and communities. I shared results of a master’s thesis, by Jose Elmer Lavado, looking into school dropout rates in Eastern Visayas, which were much higher in rural areas and in agricultural households. I reminded graduates that even doing business in a rural community is a way of helping to keep kids in school. I also alerted the graduates to the much higher dropout rates for boys, expressing hopes the graduates would find ways to keep more boys in school, and that would include the way they would raise their sons, to appreciate school more.

Lavado also found that for each additional child in a family, the chances of dropping out increased by 16 percent. The implication is clear: whether through “artificial” or “natural” means, family planning does make a difference for the children’s future.

I asked the graduates to think of supporting other students in need, taking care of their living expenses for example, can make such a difference. I thought of a high school in Cavite run by Catholic sisters, with excellent students chosen from the poorest of the poor and given the best education, and yet none were taking the UP admissions exam because even if they passed, they would not be able to afford the living expenses. I boldly told the sisters to encourage their students to take the UP entrance exam and I would help to find sponsors. Twenty-three passed that year, but I could find only two sponsors to help with the P5,000 monthly allowance.

At Tacloban I did mention the problem of brain drain, wondering again if perhaps we trained our students too well, so much so that we end up exporting them. There is much talk about following UP Manila’s lead with return service agreements, students having to stay in the Philippines for at least two years after graduating. For our graduates from other campuses, there should be more encouragement for graduates to stay on and help develop their own regions and communities.

Those who stay on can serve in many ways. Just choosing to teach at UP is one way. We keep losing young faculty who say they cannot support their young families with the current salaries at UP, even after three consecutive years of upward adjustments.

And yet, choosing to stay isn’t always a sacrifice. I’ve always felt that for many Filipinos, if they had their ifs, staying home and working is still a viable option. Graduates of UP Cebu and UP Tacloban who decide to stay on in the Visayas and Mindanao may actually be smarter, able to find or create niches.

One graduate from UP Tacloban, Aaron James P. Almadro, approached me after the graduation ceremonies and gave me a copy of the maiden issue of a new magazine he is editing, “8,” focused on tourism in the Eastern Visayas. He had worked in Manila for ABS-CBN but chose to return home, finish his degree in Communication Arts and take up the challenge of magazine publishing in his region.

Aaron, Michael, Jayson, Jussiaea and many other new UP graduates dared to dream. We should, too, about UP.

Print or e-books?

Posted on April 28, 2011 06:19:17 PM

BY CAMILLE ERIKA R. SARTE

GAWKER, a New York City-based online newsmagazine/blog, recently uncovered a 1994 video from American media company Knight-Ridder, predicting that e-readers and tablet PC’s would eventually replace printed media.

“For more than 500 years, ink printed on paper has been the best medium for delivering written information. But, as the world is beginning to be increasingly digital, all that is changing,” it said.

In the video, Roger Fidler -- journalist, newspaper designer and director of new media for Knight-Ridder -- mentioned coining the term “mediamorphosis.” He went on to explain that “all human communications systems are undergoing a transformation from one form to another, that’s all being brought about by emerging technologies and cultural changes.

“All forms of media we know today will transform in 10 to 15 years.”

Seventeen years later, we see Apple’s iPad slowly conquering the market as more and more people are opting for tablet PC’s. We see big electronic brands like Samsung, HP, LG, Asus, Dell, Sony, just to name a few, dipping their hands into this technology. The web site www.tabletpcreview.com listed a 38 tablets slated to be released this year alone -- the list was only compiled this month.

E-books
We are also seeing a move from traditionally printed books to a digital format known as e-books.

An e-book (short for electronic book) may be an existing book that has been digitized or a book that can be downloaded and/or bought over the Internet (even without a printed version), that is readable on computers or other electronic devices.

According to a report from the Association of American Publishers, e-book sales have overtaken paperbacks for the first time in the US.

E-book sales grew a whopping 202% in February compared to the same month last year, with sales totalling $90.3 million.

Earlier this year, Amazon also reported that Kindle books (e-books purchased for Amazon’s e-reader, Kindle) are selling more than paperback books.

“Since the beginning of the year, for every 100 paperback books Amazon has sold, the company has sold 115 Kindle books,” the report said.

“Additionally, during this same time period the company has sold three times as many Kindle books as hardcover books.”

Meanwhile, the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication (CAPP) released a survey that Chinese people between the ages of 18 and 70 read 613 million e-books in 2010.

The growing popularity of e-books raises the question: will traditional books soon be obsolete?

Digital textbooks
Rosalind Landicho, manager for Product Development and Innovation of Diwa Learning Systems Inc. told BusinessWorld that a good number of schools are already shifting from printed textbooks to e-books that are accessed through e-readers and tablet PC’s.

At the Future of the Book Conference held last September in Quezon City, Eric Frank, founder and president of Flat World Knowledge, described a scenario where Filipino public school pupils will no longer carry big backpacks filled with textbooks but instead come to school armed only with notebooks, lunchboxes and e-readers.

“E-readers mean saying goodbye to backpacks and heavy wheelie, trolley bags. Imagine toting an e-reader or tablet that weighs a mere 600 grams as against lugging around at least seven bulky printed textbooks that’s easily equivalent to, at the very least, 2.5 kilos. An e-reader can store thousands of e-books while taking up so little room and weight,” said Ms. Landicho.

Just last week, Amazon announced that it would allow owners of its e-reader to borrow e-books from more than 11,000 American libraries.

A move like this may revolutionize the whole education system -- with students using cheaper and more accessible learning materials in a convenient portable format.

The first
Last June, Vibal Foundation, Inc. and the De La Salle University Academic Publications Office (DLSU-APO) launched the first set of e-books published in the Philippines.

The four e-books -- Sanghiyang sa Mundo ng Internet (Reflections on the World of the Internet) by Rhoderick Nuncio, Filipino Religious Consciousness by Sylvia Palugod, Maharang, Mahamis na Literatura sa Tataramon ng Bikol (Spicy, Sweet Literature in the Bicol Language) by Paz Verdades M. Santos, and Mabathalang Pag-aaral (Religious Studies) by Jose M. de Mesa -- are the first ever Filipino books to be published in a digital e-book format.

“Our electronic publishing efforts are divided into two. One under Vibal Foundation -- our corporate social responsibility arm which was started about six years ago -- and another under Vibal Publishing which we started three years ago,” Vibal’s E-learning Program Officer, Alfred Ursua told BusinessWorld in an interview.

Vee Press (www.vibalfoundation.org/books/vee-press/), the digital publishing division of Vibal Foundation produces e-books on multiple electronic formats. It mainly publishes books on Philippine history, art, culture, media and literature. It publishes fiction, non-fiction and academic works in Filipino and English.

On its website’s frequently asked questions section, it distinguishes its e-books as “interactive where possible, in ways that cannot be done in print.

“We enhance our e-books with hyperlinks, introductory essays and annotations,” it said.

Vee Press’ 2010 catalog includes such categories as: Filipiniana Clasica which includes classic works of literature and Filipiniana (Florante at Laura, El Filibusterismo, Noli Me Tangere), folklore collections and metrical romances (Ibong Adarna, Prinsesa Florentina), travelogs and memoirs, biographies, historical fiction, and history; Nobelang Tagalog, “rare and little studied works by the country’s foremost fictionists of the early 20th century onward” featuring works by Pedro Paterno, Jose Rizal, Carlos Ronquillo, to name a few; Academia Filipina, a line of anthologies, academic books and other scholarly works; and Kontemporanea, a mix of fiction, non-fiction and poetry by famous and less-known writers.

This may surprise many but Vee Press also publishes Pinoy Romansa, “samplings of a much-loved but little-appreciated genre of Philippine literature” -- romance pocketbooks.

The catalog also has POC Presents which features selected articles from the Philippine Online Chronicles web magazine, and a selection of children’s books, electronic editions of picture books and activity books known as Chikiting books.

Vee Press books are available through web stores such as the Apple iBookstore and the Amazon Kindle Store. All are readable on Sony E-Readers, Amazon Kindles, Blackberrys, Nook, iPhones, PC’s, iMacs and all tablet computers including the Apple iPad. Prices of the e-books range from $1.99 to $9.99.

In addition, Vibal has launched a line of interactive storybooks applications (apps) this year -- the Chikiting book titles Yummy Fly Pie and The Magical Shirt (Ang Mahiwagang Kamiseta) were released on Jan. 21.

“The Chikiting storybook apps are targeted mostly to Filipino children, (their parents) wherever they maybe,” said Mr. Ursua.

He added that for basic education learners, digital and interactive contents are more effective as a learning tool compared to printed ones.

The apps feature “Let Me Read” and “Read-to-Me” options, and contains customized animation, background music and sound effects, and full interactive activities.

“Since Vibal Publishing is a basic education (K-12) publisher and given the tech-savvy nature of the age group under basic ed, we have started developing interactive, digital content for the basic subject areas. We want to relate to our end-users whom we consider as ‘digital natives,’” said Mr. Ursua.

“We are basically maximizing our Chikiting storybooks and transforming selected titles with universal appeal so we are producing their digital editions and deploying the apps online and on mobile platforms.”

The two titles are free for download on tablets PC’s, desktop computers, iPhones and mobile devices running on Android 2.2.

Mr. Ursua considers a future of e-readers for students coming from Class A schools but expressed apprehension, “while we foresee a prevalence of mobile, tablet devices readiness in basic ed is something we are not very sure of just yet.”

Catering to “digital natives”
Meanwhile, Diwa Asia Publishing Group Inc., issuer of the well-known Bato Balani and Salaguinto children’s science magazines, believes that combining traditional methods of learning with technology through e-learning is the key to helping today’s learners become “future-ready.”

Its companion Diwa Learning Systems Inc. “publishes the digital editions of Salaguinto and Bato Balani science magazines -- we call our classroom magazines Supplemental Education Materials or SEMs,” Ms. Landicho told BusinessWorld.

“We knew that ICT (Information and communications technology) is inescapable. Despite initial difficulties, we took the risk by experimenting with ways on how we can use technology to better deliver our educational contents.”

Diwa is the first and, so far, the only Philippine academic publisher to offer digital editions of classroom magazines. Salaguinto and Bato Balani come out four times a year in print and digital editions.

“We’re proud to say that these digital editions are not duplications of the print edition; so our subscribers effectively get two magazines in one issue,” said Ms. Landicho.

“Digital materials have the edge because these are multimedia so the learning experience is enhanced, especially today that our learners -- the digital natives -- are reared in an electronic world, those whose entire lives have been immersed in the 21st century media culture.”

Diwa also offers a fully integrated online e-learning system called Genyo. Its textbooks come with online digital extensions or content found in www.diwalearningtown.com. It also launched digital versions of its textbooks.

For Genyo, the publishing company has approximately 100 partner schools nationwide -- serving preschool, grade school, and high school.

Ms. Landicho emphasizes that “technology will play a major role in the classroom but it will certainly not replace books or teachers.

Technology will redefine traditional books, the way our students learn, and even the role of teachers, but all of these will survive and thrive.

“What is important is to develop a clear-sighted, open-minded understanding of both old and new technologies and how these can be used to make the learning experience better and more effective.”

According to Vibal Foundation’s Sabrina Oliveros, “For many, the key difference between printed and electronic books is that the latter do not have the aesthetic appeal or sentimental value of the former; the novelty and convenience of e-books can never replace the sensory experience of reading an exquisitely crafted printed book.

“Yet each format is bound to have its own appeal, and the e-book should not necessarily be viewed as a replacement of the printed book, but as its extension. The form might have evolved, but the purpose has not changed. Whether it conveys the writer’s ideas on paper or onscreen, a book remains a book.” 

TESDA to file raps vs former execs

By Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News

Posted at 05/01/2011 2:38 PM | Updated as of 05/02/2011 11:19 AM

 

 

MANILA, Philippines - The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is planning to file charges against officials from the previous administration for distributing P1.3-billion worth of scholarships without the appropriate funding, leaving the agency debt-ridden.

"Kaliwa't kanang voucher ang pinamudmod ng dating namamahala, wala naman palang pondo 'to,"  President Benigno Aquino said during his Labor Day speech in Malacañang.

"Pagdating ni [TESDA Director General] Joel [Villanueva], tulad ko ho, siya ang inaatasang magbayad ng utang ng TESDA. At ang pamimigay ho ng bagong educational vouchers ay nahaharang dahil maraming nga hong itong obligasyon na to," he added.

Aquino said, the previous administration left TESDA with P2 billion in debts so far.

"Malapit na po yatang magsampa ng kaukulang kaso doon sa nagpasama ng sitwasyon ng TESDA," Aquino said.

"There has to be reckoning for this," Aquino said in a follow-up interview.

Nonetheless, Aquino has asked Budget Secretary Butch Abad to look for funds to provide more scholarships for technical education from TESDA. 

P1B unpaid Gloria scholarships haunt TESDA

By Jorge Cariño, ABS-CBN News

Posted at 05/04/2011 5:31 PM | Updated as of 05/04/2011 5:58 PM

 

Learning centers demand payment for services to PGMA scholars

 

MANILA, Philippines - The ghosts of the past are now haunting the present leadership of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in the form of demand letters seeking compensation for almost a billion pesos worth of services rendered to scholar-beneficiaries of the "Pangulong Gloria Scholarship."

Joel Villanueva, TESDA Director-General, revealed that they are now being confronted by different learning centers that provided trainings to scholars of TESDA under the Arroyo administration.

Villanueva said that during the time of former Director-General Augusto Syjuco, TESDA issued vouchers that were used as scholarship certificates to learning centers. But 2 years later, the learning centers are still unpaid.

The TESDA leadership said payments were not made because the agency could not disburse money for the simple reason that there was no appropriation set for the vouchers.

"Kung maglalabas kami ng perang pambayad, that would be malversation dahil walang appropriation. But on the other hand, TESDA must fulfill its obligation," said Villanueva.

Villanueva described Syjuco's action as similar to estafa.

Among the training centers which sent demand letters to TESDA are:

•     St. John Bosco, Quezon City
•     Christ the King, Muntinlupa
•     Association of Private Techincal Vocational Institution, ALbay
•     GIS Institute of Education Learning Center
•     Destiny Institute, Tacloban
•     Philbest
•     Asiantouch
•     E & J Security Academy Inc, Quezon City
•     Manila South Institute of Management and Arts, San Pedro, Laguna
•     Asia World Skills Development and Training Center Inc, Paranaque
•     Pilgrim Christian College, Cagayan de Oro
•     RRLS-ICT Academy, Iloilo

Infotech of Mandaluyong, in particular, trained 9,281 scholars for the years 2009 and 2010. Infotech's president Allan Boribor said they were forced to close one of their branches in Quezon City after TESDA failed to pay.

"Sinabi naman na may budget talaga ang PGS o Pangulong Gloria Scholarship so di na namin naisip na mababayaran kami o hindi kasi alam namin talagang mababayaran kasi yun yung talagang galing sa circular ng TESDA," said Boribor.

TESDA is now trying to find ways of resolving the issue. According to Villanueva, he has already discussed the matter with President Benigno Aquino III.

Options being discussed are the possibility of drawing funds from the General Appropriations or from the President's Social Fund.

Syjuco is presently the congressional representative of Iloilo's 2nd District. ABS-CBN News tried to contact Syjuco for comment thru text messages and calls to his cellphone but he did not respond.

Requests for comment were also coursed thru Syjuco's office in the House of Representatives. A staff member said they will refer the matter to the Syjuco's chief of staff.