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Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Pre-school program, not 5 years of high school: gov't
MANILA -- Junking suggestions for an additional year in high school, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the education department Monday to formulate a curriculum in the preschool level instead.
A Palace statement said Arroyo issued the order during a consultation with education leaders from Northern Luzon at the presidential mansion in Baguio City on Monday morning.
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She said the curriculum for the pre-school level should be particularly for five-year-old pupils, as part of the upgrading of the standards of elementary education.
Even if some local government units (LGUs) were funding the training of the preschool teachers, she said "the national government is still obligated to fund their training if we have to improve the standards of the country's elementary education."
Arroyo said she is not in favor of an additional year to the four-year high school curriculum, saying a strengthened pre-school system would be a definite improvement.
She noted that students who go through prep somehow "survive" the educational system.
University of the Philippines Baguio chancellor Priscilla Macansantos backed Arroyo's observation, saying she had been dismayed by the "lack of preparation" even among some UP students during the elementary school years.
Macansantos noted recently a "great improvement among high school" graduates, due in large part to the upgrading of the standards of pre-tertiary education.
Meanwhile, Arroyo called on DepEd officials to come up with their own master list of all students enjoying government scholarships separate from that of the list of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
She said she had also rewritten an order on the ladderization for higher educational levels, saying the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) should agree on the courses to be included in this program and those that could be accredited as college courses.
She noted the Presidential Task Force on Education (PTFE) is using a framework for educational reform prepared by Ched Head Romulo Neri, but cited a "disjoint" between what students learn in higher education and what they are later tested on.
Calling for an education congress by the end of January 2008, the President said: "We should start by January and as we see actionable recommendations, let us carry them out right away. This is something that should be done right now."
Arroyo also supported the proposal aired during the PTFE meeting to "spread out" the "centers of excellence," noting that the P3 billion her administration had earmarked for the upgrading of the educational system went to only seven universities. (JMR)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (January 2, 2008 issue)
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