Jose Carillo's Forum

NEWS AND COMMENTARY


Philippines:

Over 50% of Philippine public high schools now Internet-connected, says DepEd

MANILA (PNA)—Department of Education (DepEd) Executive Director Mari Paul Soriano on Monday said that more than 50 percent of all public high schools in the country are already connected to the Internet.

Soriano, a director of the DepEd’s Adopt-A-School-Program, also urges the private sector to continue their assistance in making the education’s interconnectivity program a success.

“As of March this year or in a span of seven months, 50 percent or 4,000 public secondary schools have been connected to the Internet. Yet, there is no resting on our laurels as we have 2,830 remaining high schools in far-flung areas, mountain barangays and island schools to connect to the Internet—all by June 2010,” Soriano said.

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Philippines criticized for not having mandatory kindergarten

LUBAO, Pampanga—The Philippines is under fire from the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) for not having mandatory kindergarten in public schools, says former Education Secretary Jesli Lapus. The Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia with 10 years of basic education; the rest have 12 years.

Lapus said many underprivileged kids miss out on well-balanced development because they did get preschool education. He cited studies that show that 50 percent of a person’s brain formation stops at five years.

“In public schools, the children are denied that opportunity to fully develop their mental faculties by five years of age,” Lapus said “There is social injustice there. Already, we are under fire from the UNESCO on this matter.”

Last November, when it launched its monitoring report on “Education for All, Overcoming Inequality: Why Governance Matters,” the UNESCO listed the Philippines as among the governments allegedly depriving children of basic literacy and numeric skills because they have failed to address “deep and persistent” inequalities in education.

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Public-private partnerships boost education in Mindanao

MANILA (PNA)—Public-private partnerships are contributing much to increasing access to quality basic education in Mindanao, Philippines.

The recent turnover of a new two-classroom building in Malapatan, Sarangani province in Mindanao highlights the partnership between the Philippine Department of Education, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Petron Foundation in addressing the classroom shortage in the country. Petron Foundation is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Petron Corporation, one of the biggest petroleum companies in the Philippines.

USAID and Petron are building and repairing 600 classrooms in Mindanao under USAID's Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (EQuALLS2) project, focusing efforts in Regions IX and XII and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), some of the poorest and most conflict-affected regions in the country.

The classrooms come with chairs, tables, blackboards, cabinets, electric fans, a toilet in each classroom, and electrical and water facilities.

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6 Bacoleños to join Southeast Asia youth leadership program in USA

BACOLOD CITY (PNA)—Six students from this city will represent the Philippines in the Southeast Asia Youth Leadership Program 2010 slated April 7-19 at DeKalb, Illinois, and Washington D.C. They were chosen from among the 60 students who applied for the program.

They students are John Floyd Abrico of Negros Occidental High School; Jorge Antonio Coscolluela of the University of St. La Salle–IS (USLS-IS); Nobelle Ann Escalona from Bacolod City National High School; Bea Charlyn Laiño of USLS; Alexandra Soleda of Negros Occidental High School and Edcel Paul Tejare, 16 of Bacolod City NHS.

The students will represent the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries in the three-week environmental leadership program sponsored by the U.S. State Department, hosted by Northern Illinois University.

Bacolod City First Lady Elsa Leonardia lauded the students who availed the international leadership program as expressed her support to the group.

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10 model Filipino teachers in English to attend US conference

MANILA—After their successful English teaching strategy was adjudged as a model for other countries, 10 public school English teachers are going to the United States this April to attend a prestigious international reading conference. They gained the all-expense paid presenter slot to the 55th International Reading Association (IRA) convention in Chicago, Illinois this April 25 to 28 in recognition of their “Mentoring the Mentors” program.

The delegation, to be headed by Education Undersecretary Vilma Labrador, will be composed of five elementary and five secondary school teachers as well as four consultants from the National English Proficiency Program (NEPP). 

“This is another source of pride for us—that our best practices have gained notice in other parts the world,” said Education Secretary Mona Valisno.

Aa presented by the teachers, the “Mentoring the Mentors: The Philippine DepEd Model to Enhance Teaching and Learning” showcased the program’s effectiveness through increased English literacy in pilot areas.

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Canada:

Study suggests English set to dominate in Montreal

A team of Parti Quebecois researchers crunched numbers from Statistics Canada and claims that English will surpass French on the island of Montreal by 2016.

The report says if present trends continue, the percentage of Francophone on the island of Montreal will fall to 43 percent by 2016. Further, it points out that the usage of English is increasing, while French is falling.

According to the study, between 2001 and 2006, the use of English at home went up 3.3 percent in Montreal, while the use of French went down 1.7 percent. The data also appears to indicate the learning of English is more attractive than learning French.

“Your power of attraction of gaining people, of getting them in the Anglophone culture, is five times greater than in the French language and French culture,” said the PQ’s language and culture critic Pierre Curzi.

Curzi is raising the alarm, saying the study is proof that the French language in the province is under threat. “What we see is that there is a big movement towards the English culture but its not proportional to the number in Montreal,” he said.

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Ghana:

Minister worries about spicing local languages with English

The Upper West Regional Minister, Mr. Mahmud Khalid, has called on Ghanaians to discourage the practice of spicing local languages with the English language, saying it has an adverse effect on language development in the country.

“The current trend is not only impacting negatively on the fluency of the local dialects but is also affecting language development of the country,” he said.

Mr Khalid made the call at the 3rd National Annual Conference of the Yarisi Development Association (YADA) at Viesie in the Wa East District on Sunday. The forum which was on the theme: “Our roots, our hope for our progress and development,” was attended by Yarisi from all over the country.

Mr Khalid observed that there was a growing negative perception among members of society that cultural dances and music were the preserve of illiterates or semiliterates.

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Republic of Georgia:

Saakashvili speaks of “linguistic, computer revolution”

TBILISI—President Saakashvili said English language classes would become compulsory from the first grade in schools and every first-grade schoolchild would be given XO mini-laptop from next year as part of “linguistic and computer revolution” plan.
 
Speaking at a televised meeting of government in Kutaisi on April 6, he said the current practice of starting teaching children English language in schools from fifth and sixth grade was “anachronism”.

“It limits opportunities for our future generations,” Saakashvili said. “From next year, English-language classes will be compulsory from the first grade in each and every school in Georgia… It also means that we should train many Georgian English language teachers.”

Saakashvili called on the Georgian television stations to broadly use the practice of broadcasting English-language movies with subtitles and without voiceover translation.

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