Saturday, December 29, 2007
RP education ahead of neighboring countries
FRESH from their six-day educational trip in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, three local education officials shared their experiences and realization that the country’s education system is either the same or much better in some aspects.
In the alternative learning system (ALS) that caters to out-of-school youths (OSYs), Vietnam makes a good head start by giving their homeless and orphaned children free lodging and food, and placing them in formal education.
“This is subsidized by the government, nongovernment organizations, and the private sector. If we can get a similar participation, I think we can also do the same thing here,” said ALS regional coordinator Emiliano Elnar, who joined 24 other regional department heads in visiting several schools in the three Asian countries from Dec. 15 to 21.
He said this will be a better way to ensure a conducive and well-equipped learning experience for the OSYs and that the homeless won’t go back to the streets.
Cambodia’s ALS, Elnar said, is just starting by holding classes in the pagodas, temples, and other established learning centers after representatives from its ministry of education visited Cebu last year to replicate Cebu City’s ALS-related efforts.
“I’ve observed that we are ahead, especially when ALS originally started as adult education in the 1970s and was called non-formal education in the 1980s. In 2004, we are now called ALS,” he said.
Meanwhile, Physical Education and School Sports (Pess) chief Vivian Giñete and physical facilities coordinator Victor Yntig agreed that the country’s school teachers are better trained in English.
“While they have six years of curriculum for both elementary and high school, subjects are selective for every grade and year. English was not given much focus,” said Giñete.
Yntig said they met a Bicolano teacher in Vietnam who said that she still has to convince students and parents on the importance of learning English.
The three education officials agreed that people in the three Asian countries hold deep regard and respect for authority and for elders.
“Instead of showing our children rallies that shout out ‘Gloria resign,’ we should instill in them how to respect elders in small ways,” Elnar said. (NRC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (December 29, 2007 issue)
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