Reforming education

During the monthly Kapihan of the Cebu Women’s Network we discussed K to 12, the ongoing change in basic education. Ma’m Ginnie Vamenta told me to discuss this in my column.

Formal education now begins with kindergarten instead of grade 1. Daycare centers are now being institutionalized. A local government official urged mothers to expose their children to early childhood education. He pointed out that this early exposure of children to positive stimulation has significant effects, even raising the I Q of the children.

The use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction for early childhood education is being implemented. This is believed to lessen the anxiety of the children over being separated from the home and family; using the language of home reduces the strangeness or sense of alienation of the child. Studies have also shown that when pupils start with the mother tongue, they learn other languages more easily.

I favor the use of Cebuano in school so our young people will learn it correctly. Definitely, I do not want our local languages to fade away in the face of globalization.

Having 13 or even 14 years for basic education with junior high school up to grade 10 and senior high school with grade 11 and 12 has been explained as a way of decongesting the crowded and heavy high school curriculum. It is also a means by which graduates become actually ready for college. The addition of more years has been questioned: why not improve the quality instead of increasing the quantity? Those who agree with the changes point out that there are times when improving the quality actually demands more time.

Regarding the issue of the added expense on the part of the parents, Secretary of Education Bro. Armin Luistro pointed out that the added years is part of basic education, most of the cost being shouldered by the government.

I have looked closely at the guides and modules for Araling Panlipunan—Social Studies. I welcome the shift from content-based to competency-based learning—what capabilities do we want the children to be equipped with.

Young people are initiated into concept formation, data gathering, data analysis, social investigation. The importance of perspective, point of view, and contextualization will be clarified. For history, the choice of sources will be learned and the value of primary sources shown. So in the modules excerpts from primary sources are used.

Overall there is a focus on functional literacy, going beyond basic literacy. The competencies are related to the students’ daily lives.

In senior high school various streams are offered to the students, relevant to their level of competency, their inclinations, and talents, as well as their plans for the future. Such an arrangement will be quite demanding for the schools as well as the students.

The school will have to set up the various streams with the required faculty, laboratories and other requirements. Guidance services specialists as well as teachers will need to assist the students in knowing themselves, making choices and decisions regarding the track, relevant to their needs and the demands of the local as well as the global communities.

I have been invited by my niece, Mary Rose Villacastin-Maghuyop to be part of Our Lady of Joy, a basic education institution which is part of the Living Values Network. As we prepared for the new school year, my main suggestion was culturally appropriate education.

I reminded them about being familiar with the local community—Consolacion, Cebu, the Philippines. Here they can find the resources both material and human helpful for the education of the pupils and students.

The awareness will also guide teachers in the preparation of learning experiences. Lessons close to the experiences and lives of the students will make learning easier and enjoyable.

Pupils and students will be sensitive to the needs and challenges within the community if their teacher has taken the trouble of exposing themselves and the students to the community. We are hoping to have graduates with the Cebuano pride of place and concerned about community issues.

But we also asserted the need to balance all that with exposure to the global community and the positive use of modern technology. But there will remain the Filipino perspective, and the unique Cebuano point of view.