USAID Director of the Regional Financial Services Center Bret Campbell (second from right) joins Department of Education Undersecretaries Diosdado San Antonio and Nepomuceno Malaluan, and ABC+ Chief of Party Ina Aquino in the ceremonial handover to DepEd of USAID-developed early grade learning and teaching resources in Baguio City.
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) received teaching and learning resources from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support early grade learning initiatives in the Philippines.
USAID Director of the Regional Financial Services Center Bret Campbell led the turnover of the resources to DepEd Undersecretaries Nepomuceno Malaluan and Diosdado San Antonio, according to a statement from the United States Embassy in Manila on Friday.
The USAID-developed teacher training materials and materials supporting literacy assessment are among the resources handed over to DepEd.
“We are happy to accept the materials, which is symbolic of the strong partnership between DepEd and USAID,” said Malaluan.
“In this partnership, we have sought common aspirations, as well as shared commitment,” he added.
The handover ceremony commenced during the National Consultation for Philippine Participation in the 2022 United Nations Transforming Education Summit.
The September summit aims to “bring together global, national, and local education stakeholders in providing solutions that can transform education,” the US embassy said.
The USAID, meanwhile, conveyed its support for DepEd’s national consultations and urged education partners to offer remedies in reimagining education.
“The U.S. government, through USAID, remains committed to strengthening and reimagining global education systems and revitalizing national and global efforts to ensure every child has access to free, equitable, and quality education,” Campbell said.
Earlier, the DepEd conducted national consultations in Baguio City’s education forum.
The forum, which was held last week, tackled “policy, planning, and budgetary changes needed to recover learning losses; actions needed to get back on track to meet UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 of inclusive education for all; and steps required to reimagine education systems for the future,” the embassy noted.
Malaluan expressed confidence that the recently concluded forum will “play a key role in ensuring inclusion, consensus, and most importantly, continuity and action.”
The embassy said that in support of Filipino learners, the USAID, through its ABC+: Advancing Basic Education in the Philippines project, has trained more than 23,000 teachers and distributed more than 11.5 million early grade learning resources. — Iliana Padigos, INQUIRER.net intern