sa Paglikha ng mga Tagapamayapa patungo sa Magandang Kinabukasan sa pamamagitan ng Peace Education
MANILA – Sa paggunita ng National Peace Consciousness Month at International Day of Peace, pinangunahan ng Heavenly Culture, World Peace and Restoration of Light (HWPL) ang HWPL Peace Education Development Forum na may temang “Raising Peacemakers for a Brighter Future through Peace Education” na dinaluhan ng 375 katao mula sa Pilipinas, South Africa, South Korea, Indonesia, at Bangladesh noong ika-18 ng Setyembre, 2020.
Sa pagtutulungan ng Kagawaran ng Edukasyon (DepEd) at ng Komisyon sa Mas Mataas na Edukasyon (CHED), hinahangad ng HWPL na maipakita ang posibilidad ng pagsasakatuparan ng HWPL Peace Education upang maipakalat ang kultura ng kapayapaan sa mga susunod na henerasyon.
Ipinakita ng mga tagapagsalita ang mga sumusunod na paraan sa pagsulong ng HWPL Peace Education sa Pilipinas:
1) ‘The Voice of Peace PH’, isang programang pinamumunuan ni Bb. Alecka Mae Fajardo, ang National Coordinator ng HWPL Peace Education PH;
2) Ang Independent Program na suhestiyon ni G. Jofit Dayoc mula sa Youth Formation Division ng DepEd Division of General Trias City, Cavite;
3) Isang integrasyon sa asignatura sa Sistema ng Edukasyon sa Pilipinas na ipinakita ni Commissioner Dr. Ronald L. Adamat at nilinang ng Division of Cotabato City at School Superintendent Dr. Concepcion Ferrer-Balawag.
Sa kaniyang talumpati, sinabi ni Commissioner Dr. Ronald L. Adamat, “Sa pamamagitan ng pag-aaral ng kapayapaan na ibinibigay sa mga kolehiyo at unibersidad, inihahanda natin ang ating mga estudyante na maging balot ng kaalaman, kasanayan, aksyon, at kagandahang asal sa pagresolba ng mga sagupaan at trabahong pangkapayapaan.”
Sa karagdagan, si Dr. Concepcion Ferrer-Balawag, na nagtatrabaho upang maisama ang mga materyales ng HPWL Peace Education sa mga asignatura kagaya ng Araling Panlipunan at Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao sa K-12 curriculum, at nagpakita ng suporta sa pamamagitan ng pagpirma ng Memorandum of Understanding kasama ang HWPL.
Nilalayon naman ni G. Jofit Dayoc, mula sa Youth Formation Division ng DepEd Division of General Trias City, na itaguyod ang Peace Education hindi lamang sa kanilang youth leaders ngunit pati na rin sa kanilang buong komunidad kasama ang mga pribadong sektor ng edukasyon.
Ipinahayag naman ni President Cherry I. Ultra ng University of Eastern Philippines (UEP) ang kaniyang pasasalamat sa pagsasabing tinulungan sila ng forum na ito na intindihin ang personalidad ng bawat isa at makalikha ng mga kapamaraanan upang mapigil ang pagtaas ng mga sagupaan.
“Sinisikap ng Administrasyon ng UEP na gawin ang kanilang makakaya upang mailagay ang mga aral ng peace education sa mga puso ng kanilang mga faculty, staff, estudyante, at iba pang stakeholders sa tulong ng HWPL sa pamamagitan ng Memorandum of Agreement,” dagdag pa niya.
Ang HWPL ay isang South-Korea based international non-government organization sa ilalim ng United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESCO) na nagtataguyod ng pagbuo ng kapayapaan sa pamamagitan ng pagtatatag ng International Law for Peace, Interfaith Dialogue meeting, at Peace Education.
Higit pa, inilunsad ng HWPL ang Voice of Peace PH noong Hulyo 2020 at patuloy na nakikipagtulungan sa 160 enrolled students at 50 na mga volunteer peace educators sa buong bansa.
DepEd, USAID’s ABC+ to focus on K-3 students for distance learning
September 16, 2020 – The Department of Education (DepEd) tapped United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to assist in the implementation of the Basic Education-Learning Continuity Plan to Kindergarten to Grade 3 students through ABC+ project.
Started last July 2019, ABC+ project is a 5-year partnership of USAID and DepEd that aims to improve literacy, numeracy, and social and emotional learning aforementioned grade levels, especially that the School Year 2020-2021 will be conducted through distance learning.
“The project started in July of 2019 and by March 2020, we have been able to conduct our consultations with DepEd field and central office personnel for guidance on priority areas. We have also been able to conduct our baseline studies,” said Ina Aquino, USAID’s Chief of Party during the Handang Isip, Handa Bukas Virtual Press Conference.
“Having received our training recognition from the NEAP [National Educators Academy of the Philippines], we were ready to roll out in the summer period but like everyone else, we had to pivot, adjust, and adapt when the pandemic was declared. We made a few but a very major adjustment to our way of working,” Aquino added.
The partnership has paved for the conduct of online training to almost 4,500 teachers on how to strategize learning and to conduct the transition from school to home study. The initiative also developed home learning guides and learner activity sheets as part of the scheme.
“One of the schools, in fact, reported that they have already used the materials from the training to in turn train parents and other home learning facilitators. So, natutuwa po kami roon. Nagamit na nila at na-train na po ‘yong ibang mga parents,” Aquino added.
The project, in collaboration with the DepEd field offices, was able to determine a set of rapid assessment tools to determine the learners’ reading level to apply all the necessary interventions.
The partnership has also assured that materials created by the project are matched with DepEd’s Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs) and digitized version will be uploaded to the DepEd Commons for wider access.
As part of the preparations for the opening of classes, the project also aims to help the Department in gathering all the necessary feedback from the field by creating a platform and various technical assistance in figuring out learning delivery modalities, especially to K-3 learners.
In a recorded statement, Joenill Rubios, a parent of students from Parang Elementary School in Camarines Norte, also shared his realization on the existing challenges in the education sector, especially in critical times like what everyone is experiencing right now.
“Sa kabila ng napakaraming hamon na aking nakita at nakikita, mas klaro pa rin sa akin ang gusto kong makamtan. ‘Yon ay ang magandang kinabukasan ng aking mga anak na makukuha nila sa pamamagitan ng isang magandang edukasyon,” said Rubios, who was also trained by the program.
Furthermore, they will also continue assisting all the teachers, and school heads, especially the parents, who will play a key role in delivering relevant and inclusive education amidst the new normal.
“We salute all unnamed frontliners in the communities, school heads, teachers, parents, and community workers. We, at ABC+, through the support of USAID, are here to support the DepEd and the communities they serve,” said Aquino.
Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones expressed her gratitude to all the partner organizations who portioned their resources on the DepEd’s initiative in facing an extraordinary school year.
“This is why we decided this session, we would feature among the few of those many groups and institutions who have reached out to us, who have volunteered and who have offered their experience, their learnings, their facilities to help out in the challenges of education,” shared Secretary Briones.
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PNU, RCTQ aid DepEd NEAP for teachers’ professional growth
September 16, 2020 – As part of the ongoing National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) transformation, the Department of Education and the Philippine Normal University (PNU) have collaborated to better assist teachers and school leaders for their pursuit of professional growth.
“The partnership is to support the Department of Education through the National Educators Academy of the Philippines in assisting teachers and school leaders show evidence of attainment of their current career stages which are based on the applicable set of standards and further support them to move to the next career stages,” said Dr. Bert Tuga, PNU President, during the Handang Isip, Handa Bukas press briefing on Monday.
To support the NEAP Priority Development Programs for teachers, school heads, and supervisors, PNU has reviewed the Program Design (PD) of NEAP to align and equate professional their accomplishments with the university’s existing graduate degrees. PNU also developed a customized program for NEAP personnel.
The customized program of PNU focuses on the outcomes-based approach that addresses the needs of the Department to correctly position and move the teachers, school heads, and supervisors to their next career stages as prescribed by the sets of standards adopted by the Department.
With this partnership, teachers and school leaders can bring to PNU their accomplishments based on the NEAP earned units and go through PNU equivalency to know and to place them in the correct MA or Ph.D. program.
In addition, the Australia-supported and PNU-based Research Center for Teacher Quality (RCTQ)—a partnership between PNU and the University of New England SiMERR National Research Centre in Australia—also provides research and technical assistance to DepEd.
After doing a policy study on how to transform NEAP in 2018, RCTQ now focuses on the implementation phase of the NEAP transformation, including the development of Teachers Induction Program (TIP) for new teachers. The development of the TIP includes the usage of various learning modalities for different school types to make it more responsive to the COVID-19 crisis.
Dr. Gina Gonong, the Director of RCTQ, shared that the induction program will benefit 11,000 new teachers, and their research shows that ‘an induction program can impact on teacher commitment and retention, teacher classroom instructional practices, and student achievement.’
Furthermore, RCTQ helps to align the Human Resource (HR) systems for teachers and school leaders with the Philippine Standards for Teachers (PPST) that comprise career progression, promotion, and performance management.
“As mentioned by Dr. Gina Gonong and doon sa presentation ni President Tuga of PNU na part ito noong NEAP transformation natin and as you can see there is cross recognition of the professional development programs on the part of NEAP,” Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said.
“While the NEAP right now is not a degree conferring body as part of our transformation, its program is moving toward being recognized and credited by higher education institutions, particularly teacher education institutions. We are very happy with the partnership that we have with PNU and RCTQ and the one that was presented by PNU is a recent development,” he said.
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