Professional Readings and references

Duterte: computers in, textbooks out

Published November 12, 2017, 10:23 AM

 By Argyll Cyrus Geducos

President Duterte is planning on ordering the Department of Education (DepEd) to replace textbooks with electronic gadgets like tablets as he pushes for modernization and the children’s involvement in digital communications.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte,
(KARL NORMAN ALONZO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO/MANILA BULLETIN)

This plan was revealed as Duterte said he wants every government transactions, especially applications, to be done online, upon his arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City from Da Nang, Vietnam.

“Sinabi ko na, online na lang (I said everything should be done online now). Passport, online. Clearances, online. Gamitin na ninyo (You should use it now) because it is the digital age,” he said before dawn today.

Duterte expressed that he wants the Filipino children to learn about the growing technology in the digital age this early, reiterating that they are the country’s future.

“Ang pag-asa natin ay ang mga anak natin (Our children are our hope). So they have to learn the basics about cyberspace and everything, digital communications,” Duterte said.

“And I will make that mandatory. Instead of textbook bibili na tayo ng [gadget] for each of the children. Mag-aral na sila ngayon as early as first year [high school] (we will just buy gadgets for each of the children. They should start learning about it as early as their first year in high school),” he added.

“Mandatory na sa lahat ng gobyerno — sa gobyerno sa atin is (It is mandatory in our government) to provide the textbooks and, of course, learn how to use the computers and everything,” he continued.

However Duterte acknowledged that this plan would be expensive but vows to find the money to make this a reality.

“And I will save enough money for this. It’s gonna be billions but I will save for something that is beneficial to our children,” he said.

In August, DepEd received 370 computer tablets, sample student chairs, and the scale model and design of a typhoon-resistant school building from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

According to DepEd, this is to achieve the mutual development goals of ensuring inclusive and quality education for all and promoting lifelong learning.

As part of the ICT (information and communications technology) for Reading initiative under Basa Pilipinas, the 370 tablet computers are said to be turned over to the City Division of San Fernando, La Union, which would benefit 26 schools, 60 Grade 3 teachers, and approximately 1,700 pupils.

According to DepEd, the tablets will be loaded with PDF copies of all Basa Pilipinas-developed Grade 3-level readers in English and Filipino, plus an interactive reading application (Vernacular) that would test and study the use of tablets to support students’ literacy and learning.

Basa Pilipinas is USAID/Philippines’ flagship basic education project in support of the Philippine government’s early grade reading program. It supports the implementation of the language and literacy component of the K to 12 curriculum for Grades 1 to 3.

According to the USAID website, the project’s approach to teacher professional development and systemic change is designed to promote transformational practices at the school, division and national level focusing on classroom change in materials development and accessibility, guided reading, writing, and grouping for differentiated learning.

Tags: Basa Pilipinas, Department of Education, DepEd, digital communications, Duterte, electronic gadgets, Filipino children, Manila Bulletin, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, tablet computers

INTRODUCTION, SUMMARY, REFLECTION

             The article was about Pres. Duterte’s plan to make all the public transactions especially applications to be done online. He said that he was planning to replace books with electronic gadgets like tablets as he pushes for modernization and the children’s involvementin digital communications. This plan was revealed upon his arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City from Da Nang, Vietnam.

            The president emphasized that he wants the Filipino children to learn about the growing technology in the digital age as early as today while reminding the audience that the children are our future. However, the President himself knows that the plan would be costly but he promised to find resources to push the said project. In August, DepEd received 370 computer tablets, sample student chairs, and the scale model and design of a typhoon resistant school building from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). According to DepEd, this is to achieve the mutual development goals of ensuring inclusive and quality education for all and promoting lifelong learning.

            As far as I am concerned, the president’s vision and plan is as good as it sounds and very timely since we are already in the 21^st century and the students really needed to be equipped with the substantial information and skills they can all harness in order to adapt to the digital age since these kids are nowadays known as “the Millenials” and the 21^st century learners. New and advanced technology also flourished well that even a toddler can use a tablet or cellphone that before did not exists. The only drawback I think that these plan could have is how is it going to be implemented when we have so many public schools and we have millions of students, who would be prioritized-the urban places or the rural areas in provinces, or the mountain-living ethnic groups. There should also be first and foremost a budget before it is implemented and the manpower that will be faithful to their promise of giving a better and honest service. Otherwise, this will only be plans, and there’s a saying “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

New school year, same old problems: K to 12, shortages in classrooms, teachers

 Anne Marxze Umil  June 6, 2017  1 Comment  K to 12, school opening 2017-2018, Senior High School

ACT Teachers Party Rep. France Castro addressing the students of Horacio Dela Costa High School. (Photo grabbed from ACT Teachers Party’s Facebook page)

Large amount of the increased education budget was allocated – not to address backlogs and shortages – but to fund privatized education through the voucher system.

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat

MANILA – Members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) picketed the Department of Education (DepEd) central office in Pasig City on the first day of school, June 5, Monday, to call for higher education budget and for salary increase for teachers and employees. It is a new school year, with the same old problems, ACT said.

“There are still no sufficient teachers, classrooms, facilities and equipment and other instructional and teaching materials. Several schools have double, even triple shifts!” Raymond Basilio, ACT secretary general said.

Basilio stressed that the education budget for school year 2017-2018 may have increased by 17 percent, but this has not addressed the long time problem of shortages. He said the budget, which increased from last year’s P435 billion to P543 billion ($8.8 billion to $11 billion) this year, is still far from international standards, which sets the education budget to 20 percent of the national budget and six percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

ACT said data from DepEd itself shows huge gaps that need to be filled to give real quality education.

Shortages

As of November 2016, DepEd data showed shortages that the agency is yet to meet; 13,995 classrooms, 88,267 teachers; 235 million instructional and other learning materials; 2.2 million school seats for 2016 and 66,492 sets – each seat with 45 seats and 1 teacher’s desk; and 44,538 computer packages.

The lack of learning materials has become a burden not only to students but teachers.

Joselyn Martinez of ACT National Capital Region (NCR) Union said, teachers have to make do with the insufficient learning materials provided to them. In NCR for instance, in a class with 50 students, only 35 learning materials are provided. It is worse for teachers in the regions where they were not provided with learning materials at all. “They have to look for their own learning materials,” said Martinez.

Large size classes still persist in public schools said Martinez. In Davao City, for one, 70 students are cramped into one class. At the Muntinlupa Elementary School, students Grades 5 and 6 will be temporarily holding classes in another school because the construction of additional classrooms are not yet finished.

Martinez said these backlogs have become a burden as teachers make do with what is available. Meanwhile, their salaries have not increased, and worse, the chalk allowance, which was already approved in the Senate, is in danger of being vetoed. Reports said Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno will recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte to veto Teaching Supplies Allowance Act of 2017, which will increase by 100 percent the chalk allowance, from P2,500 to P5,000 ($50 to $101).

Huge allocation for privatization

Basilio said the increased education budget goes to the implementation of senior high school. He said, however, the huge amount was not allocated to address backlogs and shortages, but to fund privatization of education through the voucher system.

For this year, allocation for voucher system increased to P34 billion from P21 billion in 2016 ($688 million from $425 million). The voucher system intends to decongest public schools by sending high school students to private schools. However, the voucher system only provides P11,000 ($222) per student. An average cost of education in private schools at the minimum is pegged at P30,000 ($607).

Basilio said there are reports reaching the ACT office that there are students who were not able to finish their studies in private schools because they cannot keep up with the day-to-day expenses for transportation, food and other school related expenses.

Picket at the Department of Education. (Contributed photo)

In Manila City, enrollees in private schools decreased by 10.4 percent after the first semester of 2016, with dropouts citing financial circumstances as the reason, said Basilio.

Problems brought about by senior high school implementation

Vladimir Quetua, senior high school teacher at Araullo High School, said facilities for senior high school were often lacking. In Araullo High School for one, no facilities were provided for courses like automotive and baking. A colleague of his had to teach automotive theoretically, without hands-on exercises. “He was saddened that he was not able to teach the students the course in a practical way,” he told Bulatlat in an interview.

In baking, he said DepEd sent a machine for making dough but it was defective. There are also no laboratories for communication subjects. Modules are also lacking particularly in Philosophy and Sociology subjects and students have to pay for books to use. “Students have to shell out P400 ($8) per semester, a total of P800 ($16) for one year,” said Quetua.

The curriculum also became a problem as subjects meant for Grade 12 was already given to Grade 11. Quetua said as a result, students who wanted to return to Araullo High School as Grade 12 students cannot enroll because their subjects from their previous school are different. He said many of their Grade 10 students who enrolled in private schools for Grade 11 wanted to return to Araullo for Grade 12 because they cannot afford tuition in private schools.

The mixed-up in subjects is due to the lack of teachers for particular subjects. For one, Quetua who teaches Philosophy, a subject in Grade 12, already taught it for Grade 11 students.

These are among many issues afflicting the teachers and students of senior high school, on top of the framework of the K to 12 curriculum, which is to produce cheap labor, said Quetua.

Out-of-school youth increasing

Meanwhile, ACT Teachers Party Rep. Antonio Tinio said the government still failed to address the increasing dropouts and out-school-youths in the country. This, despite the increase in budget and other schemes like voucher system and conditional cash transfer program, which requires beneficiaries to send their children to school.

Tinio said participation rates from DepEd’s data revealed that 4.8 million were out of school in 2015-2016, an 11 percent increase in five years.

The number of elementary school-age children who are out of school has more than tripled, from around 431,000 in 2011 to 1.4 million in 2015. The out-of-school who are of high school age decreased, but remain high in 2015 at 3.4 million, said Tinio.

Tinio also noted wide gaps between the enrolments in elementary and high school, 91 percent and 68 percent respectively. The gaps showed that fewer students were able to enroll in high school. “This means that while nine out of 10 elementary school-age children are enrolled in elementary, enrollment in high school dropped to only around 7 out of 10,” Tinio said.

He stressed the need to build more high schools as there are only 7,000 high schools that offer junior high school in the country. Most high schools are located in the urbanized areas, inaccessible to students from far-flung areas.

ACT Teachers Party Rep. France Castro also said there is only one high school for every four to five villages.
“We attribute low enrolment and high drop-out to the alarming shortage of public schools, especially high schools, and the insufficient budget for their maintenance and operations,” said Tinio adding there are 36,492 public elementary schools and only 7,677 high schools.

Both solons believe that more students will be able to continue their schooling if the government only reverses its habit of underfunding public education.

“These dismal enrolment and dropout statistics should be enough to push the Duterte administration to pour more direct investments into public schools,” said Tinio. 

INTRODUCTION, SUMMARY, REFLECTION

New School year, same old problems: K to 12, Shortages in classrooms, teachers

The article revolves around the unending dillemmas during school seasons, mentioning about the same old problems we are facing about the education system here in the Philippines.According to it, a large amount of the increased education budget was allocated- not to address backlogs and shortages – but to fund privatized education through the voucher system. Every now and then,Juan Dela Cruz seemed to be playing patintero with the twists and hurdles of our education system, not to mention the added K  to 12 program that we have right now, even before it was implemented, we are already in the loop of c0-existing problems when it comes to studying.

The summary of these same old problems are: the shortages that the agency is yet to meet, ranging from the classrooms, to teachers and a million of learning and instructional materials used in teaching. The burden of learning materials has become a burden not only to students but also to teachers. The huge allocation for privatization was not planned in answer to these backlogs but to fund the education of senior high schools attending in private schools. But then again, there are still those students in private schools who were not able to finish their studies because they cannot keep upwith the day-to-day expenses for transportation, food and other school related expenditures. Out-of-school youths are also increasing in number and thus does not ensure a better life ahead of them. Tinio said that the dismal enrolment and drop-out statistics should be enough to push the Duterte administration to pour more direct investments into public schools.

In reaction to the article,yes I agree to what it says. New school year could mean new school things for pupils, new bags, shoes and others. But it does not necessarily follow that, there will be no more problems in their respected schools as they arrive. The implementation of each plans about education seems to be trial and error most of the time.If it worked, it worked. If it does not, then it had not. There should always be plan B when first plans fail. The problems in public schools are easy to address actually.If there are shortages in terms of classrooms, why not build more schools and classrooms?If teachers are needed, then hire more.K to 12 can only be more effective if there are learning materials that can be provided to use by the teachers and students. But sad to say, until now that it has been the third year of its implementation, the grade 5 and grade 6 pupils cannot even glance at the sight of a book which belongs to their grade level. The bottomline, budget is not sufficient enough to purchase these materials.So, teachers find ways over and over again to cope up with the situation just to teach. So, in short, the government should allocate bigger budget to Education if they want to really create a better future to the next generations to come.