Education reform campaign seeks to elect “Education President”

MANILA—A reform blueprint aimed at saving the Philippine education system from collapse was launched last week by Education Nation, a coalition of captains of industry and other concerned citizens. The coalition has come up with a proposed 10-point education reform agenda, offering it to presidential candidates in the May national elections.

During the launching of the education reform campaign in Makati City, Ramon del Rosario Jr., chair of the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), presented what he called 10 doable things that “make a world of difference for learning and achieving in this country”: increasing the education budget to 4 percent of GNP, adding two more years to basic education, developing globally benchmarked standards of excellence, developing community ownership of schools, ensuring universal access to education, strengthening higher education, empowering teachers, building transparency and accountability, supporting private education, and maximizing alternative learning.

Edilberto de Jesus, AIM president and former education secretary, explained: “What we are seeing is that we really need an Education President, because ... we have to have at the very top somebody who is ready to call the shots and enforce the principles, if we are to reform education.”

Among the people behind the PBEd are Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (Ayala Corp.), Oscar Lopez (First Philippine Holdings Corp.), Manuel V. Pangilinan (Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.), Washington Sycip (The SGV Group), Lance Gokongwei (JG Summit Holdings), Tony Tan Caktiong (Jollibee Food Corp.), and Marixi R. Prieto (Philippine Daily Inquirer).

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Philippines now challenging India for BPO supremacy

ILOILO CITY—Describing the business process outsourcing in the Philippines as now challenging the global industry supremacy of India, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last week hailed the country’s significant advances in the BPO industry in recent years. She said the employment in the ICT-BPO industry had surged from 2,400 in 2000 to 446,000 in 2009, making the Philippines becoming a “global powerhouse in the BPO industry.”

Ms. Arroyo made the remarks at the John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University in Iloilo City in the course of what has been billed as her tour of the country’s cyber-corridor tour. “Today, the Philippines, with 90 million people, has challenged India’s 1 billion population for BPO supremacy,” she said. “Compared to $.02 B in 2001, which is almost nothing, our BPO industry has earned more than $7 billion in 2009. And that is not far behind India’s $9 billion (earnings) for call centers.”

The potential for the country’s ICT-BPO industry remained strong with investors seeking higher value services including offshoring and outsourcing of accounting, legal, medical, personnel and administration services, the President said.

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DepEd Davao to allocate P2.5M for national school press conference

DAVAO CITY (PNA)—The Department of Education (DepEd) Regional Office in Davao will allocate P2.5 million to fund the holding of National Schools Press Conference on Feb. 22 to 26 in Tagum City, Davao del Norte .

Susana Teresa B. Estigoy, DepEd regional director, said some 3,604 delegates from various regions were expected to participate in the event, which would have the theme “Campus Journalism as a Catalyst of Change: Achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015”.

She also said that Tagum City was ready for the incoming conference. All participating students and coaches of the conference are guaranteed safe within the boundaries of the city. “Among the activities of the incoming conference are individual or group competitions on scriptwriting and radio broadcasting contests,” she said.

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Writers to gather in Cebu for Taboan 2010

Over a hundred writers from different parts of the country will gather in Cebu on February 10 to 12 for one of the country’s major literary events this year: the second Philippine Writers Festival. Taboan is a Cebuano word meaning “gathering” or “trading at the market place.”

Open to writers writing in different Philippine dialects as well as in English, this year’s Taboan focuses on Visayan writers and literature. According to Ricardo de Ungria, head of the Subcommission on the Arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and director of the Philippine International Arts Festival, this is for other writers to appreciate the wealth of Visayan literature.

“Our intention is to make the focus of the Taboan different each year. Last year, the focus was Luzon. For 2010, it will be the Visayas,” de Ungria added.

Besides the plenary discussions, there will also be live workshops, performance poetry presentations, and a zarzuela show. There will also be a teachers’ conference on teaching literature. This is the first time that such conference for teachers will be featured in Taboan.

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AusAID to continue US$ 33-M education aid to ARMM

COTABATO CITY (PNA)—Regional Governor Ansaruddin Adiong is optimistic the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) will extend up to 10 years its bankrolled Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) in the region.

Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, ARMM executive secretary, said BEAM's focus at this time is the depressed communities of the ARMM with a total fund of US$ 33 million.

Sinarimbo made the announcement during the oath-taking rites here of lawyer Hamid Barra, who was earlier appointed by acting Regional Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong as regional secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Adiong and Barra discussed the extension of BEAM program in ARMM alone in five to 10 years after they signed last January 27 at the Australian Embassy in Manila a memorandum of agreement providing for a US$ 33-million AusAID fund for the first year of the extended deal, Sinarimbo said.

“The additional good news is that they both agreed in principle on a new system through which the program will be extended from five to 10 years…with a total funding package of US$ 33 million for the ARMM alone,” he said.

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US President Obama starts rewriting “No Child Left Behind” policy

The Obama administration launched an effort Wednesday to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law, with a proposed increase in federal spending, a pledge to make the Bush-era school reform program more flexible, and an appeal to Republicans for bipartisan cooperation.

To grease the legislative wheels, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, the administration will reserve $1 billion to fund programs that may emerge through a revision of the 2002 law. In addition, he said, President Obama is proposing to raise elementary and secondary education spending by $3 billion in the fiscal year that begins in October.

Overall, Duncan said, the education budget would increase by 6 percent. That would be the most significant annual increase since 2003, not counting the large infusion of funds made last year through the economic stimulus law to prevent teacher layoffs.

With the budget proposal, Obama seeks to turn the page on an era of reform that his predecessor, George W. Bush, defined through a campaign slogan that morphed into a school accountability movement.

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English-only policy gets bookstore in hot water

An English-only policy at the Atticus Bookstore and Cafe, a landmark establishment on the outskirts of the Yale University campus, has brought harsh criticism for the management and at least one worker has been fired as a result of the policy.

“Here we speak English: effective immediately the official and only language spoken on the floor and behind the counter is English. Spanish is allowed in the prep area, the dishwasher area and the lower level. Let’s make our customers feel welcome and comfortable,” read the notice posted in the store and signed by the manager, Jean Recapet, according to a story in the Hartford Courant.

“English is the primary language of this business,” said Recapet in an interview Friday.

A protest is planned in front of the store at noon today.

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Don't teach English to your children in Class I

Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar, ET Bureau

A recent news report highlighted the fact that only 48.3% of Indian children in Class 1 could read the English alphabet, even in big capital letters.

The annual education audit by the NGO Pratham showed that Gujarat had the worst record: only 25.3% of Gujarati children could read capital letters in English, and only 8% could read English sentences. To rectify this, and join the globalisation bandwagon, the Gujarat government proposes to teach English in Class 1. Other states are making similar moves.

Yet this is an error. Global research shows that children should learn reading and writing in their mother tongue first. Only after they can read fluently at a minimum of 45-60 words per minute can they absorb what they are reading. Such fluency is most easily achieved in the mother tongue. Once that is established, learning a second language becomes much easier.

Premature teaching of a second language—like English—can prevent a child from learning to read fast enough in its mother tongue. Early reading and writing is vital: children that cannot do so fluently by Class 2 will likely never catch up with classmates in higher classes.

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Medical council in UK blasts language test loopholes

Health bosses have criticised the legal system which allows doctors from the European Union to work in the UK without taking either a language or competence test. The independent regulator for UK doctors, the General Medical Council (GMC), said the system was "profoundly unsatisfactory."

A spokeswoman for the GMC said all doctors were checked to confirm their qualifications, training and certificates of good standing. She said doctors who qualified in the UK, regardless of their nationality, were entitled to be registered provided their fitness to practise is not impaired.

Those who qualified outside the EU can be asked to take an English test and to demonstrate their knowledge and skills to a board before they are eligible to be registered.
Doctors from a European state are eligible for the register, provided their fitness to practise is not impaired, but by law, the GMC may not test the medical skills, knowledge and language proficiency at the point of registration.

"The current situation is profoundly unsatisfactory," said Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC. "We are not able to give the level of assurance we want because of the present legal framework.

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Fall in teacher numbers “could be permanent”

Education Secretary Mike Russell has admitted that falling teacher numbers in Scotland may not be reversed.

There are now 2,000 fewer teachers in Scotland than two years ago as local authorities slow down recruitment amid financial pressures. Only 13.2 per cent of P1 to P3 classes now meet the key SNP pledge of having 18 pupils or less.

Mr. Russell said: “I hope we will be able to sustain the number of teachers. There has been a reduction that I don’t see us making up again, to be honest. Equally, I don’t want to see further substantial cuts.”

Over a quarter of newly qualified teachers are out of work, and plans to cut the number of training places have been announced, with a proposed drop in the teacher training budget from £32m to £20m.

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