Massive literacy campaign kicks off

THE Bacolod City Schools Division led by Superintendent Ma. Gemma Ledesma has began a city-wide literacy campaign through the conduct of a seminar for some 200 teachers from the 46 elementary schools in the city.

This after a study found out that one of two children in the city needs some form of reading enhancement assistance.

In response, the Bacolod Division decided to strengthen the teachers' classroom strategy through the “Remedial Reading Enhancement Program.”

“Our goal is to reach a 75-percent functional literacy rate within the division by year's end. This will place Bacolod on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 2015 and Educational for All (EFA),” Ledesma said.

The seminar was conducted at the Grand Ballroom of the Bacolod Pavilion Hotel through Kristin Educational Exponents Publication (KEEP), which publishes the English Reading Kit Level I, one of the Learning Activity Packages (LAP) to be used in the enhancement program.

Janalyn Navarro, Bacolod Division's Elementary English supervisor, has instructed all the teachers present during the seminar to submit their remedial reading enhancement plan making use of the LAP tools that they will receive.

To assess the reading competency of the grade school pupils of Bacolod, Ledesma said the education department will also conduct assessment tests in reading and hold remediation sessions, as needed in the schools based on the results of the tests to be conducted.

It was pointed out that due to the proliferation of modern technology, such as TV and the Internet, the pleasure of exploring reading printed materials has been sidelined by most school children. (Teresa D. Ellera)