Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Annual Reform Report 2013 (4 of 5 parts)

DepEd-ARMM’s BEE conducted Regional Eliminations for the Metrobank-MTAP Math Challenge

Pupils and students-math whizzes trooped to Cotabato City for the Regional Elimination of the Metrobank-MTAP Math Challenge which was held on February 22, 2013 at the Pacific Heights in Cotabato City.

This regional activity is managed by the DepEd-ARMM Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE) in partnership with the Metrobank Foundation, Inc. and Mathematics Teachers Association of the Philippines (MTAP).

The general objective of the Math Challenge is to contribute in improving the quality of mathematics education in the Philippines. Specifically, it aims to: (a) awaken greater interest in Mathematics among elementary and high school students in both private and public schools all over the country; (b) encourage students to strive for excellence in Mathematics; (c) encourage mastery of basic mathematical skills; (d) discover mathematical talents among elementary and high school students; and (e) provide students opportunities in leadership and cooperative undertaking.

Palarong Pambansa 2013
Education Secretary Br. Armin Luistro FSC has declared the 2013 staging of the Palarong Pambansa in Dumaguete City as unrivaled in terms of local government unit (LGU) support, private sector participation, remarkable display of sporting prowess and environmental impact . It is also unprecedented that 11 private schools opened their gates to serve as billeting venues for athletes, coaches and other sports officials.

306 differently-able athletes participated this year. Luistro mentioned in particular 11-year old John Carlo Cabido of Region 12 who, with an arm missing, participated gamely in gymnastics and Region 9’s Jomar Maalam who joined in the swimming completion with missing feet.

Luistro also shared that he will remember the athletes from ARMM, specifically the Tawi-Tawi swimmers who learned in the open sea and came to Dumaguete a month early so they could practice in a real swimming pool.

8-week Summer Kindergarten Curriculum for the IPs
In March, the IPs (Teduray) of Upi, Maguindanao had availed for the first time the 8-Week Summer Kindergarten Curriculum Training. DepEd-ARMM and UNICEF conducted training for the IP Volunteer Teachers. This activity is undertaken to prepare the eligible 34 Kindergarten Volunteer Teachers for the opening of classes in May or June for the Teduray children aged 5 to 6 years.

NQESH Recognition
In May, DepEd-ARMM held a special recognition day to first batch of passers of the National Qualifying Examination for School Heads (NQESH). The first-ever NQESH was conducted by the National Educators' Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) in the region last November 2012. Around 2,000 school and district heads across ARMM ocked to provincial testing centers for the examinations.

The NQESH was developed and administered by the National Educators' Academy of the Philippines (NEAP). In April, NEAP released the result with one hundred seventy (170) passing it. The result belie two misconceptions about ARMM: (1) that the NQESH is too difficult and no one will pass, and (2) if someone from ARMM will pass it, it will just be a barely passing remark. It turns out 170 school/district heads are up to national standards and nineteen (19) examinees have a performance rating of 99+ percent.

The DepEd-ARMM Election Response Network (DERN)
Another measure aimed at protecting and promoting the welfare of the teachers was the launching of the DepEd-DERN’s role in the May ARMM Election Response Network or DERN. ARMM in response to DepEd Central’s Order to create a task-force as mechanism to protect teachers during the
as an important initiative.

Aside from the Commission on Elections, other government organizations have also expressed their commitment of support through an election covenant signed in early May in Davao City were the Philippine Naional Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Some of the functions of DERN include the assessment of security situation and threats of teachers serving as BEIs. The establishment of Election Response Teams (ERTs) at the division and municipal level that will keep a directory of teachers’ names and contact numbers and emergency contact persons was acknowledged as an important mechanism for reporting and monitoring.

DERN’s system of reporting employs color codes. For instance, green means teachers are safe, yellow means elections pushed through with some degree of threat, red means teachers were threatened and stopped administering elections and black means an attack against the school and teachers took place, and there have been casualties.

After the conduct of elections, teachers who may be involved in costly and stressful legal battles shall be provided legal support by DepEd-ARMM. In the past, election-related cases against teachers are filed directly in courts, usually without the DepEd being informed of the filings.

1,000 teachers in ARMM Paid Back Pays Amounting to P146M
More than 1,000 teachers in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) received their back pays amounting to 146 million. This amount has not been paid during the past administrations to the teachers. Most of the teachers compensated have not received their salaries completely since 2007.
Regional Officials headed by the Secretary personally handed over the back pay of teachers in Marawi City to 224 teachers in the province of Lanao del Sur. Based on the records of the DepEd-ARMM, 51 teachers in the province of Basilan received their backpay amounting to P4.8 million; 11 teachers in Lamitan received P2.2 million. A total of 113 teachers in Sulu received P13.8 million, and in Tawi-Tawi, 62 teachers received P18.6 million. In Maguidanao, 431 teachers received P60 million.

DepEd-ARMM hires around 2,500 teachers
In May, after receiving the exemption from the Commission on Election (COMELEC), DepEd-ARMM was in full swing with the review of application for teaching posts for 2013 teacher item allocation.

DepEd-ARMM sought the exemption from the ban because of the need to deploy new teachers for the school opening in June and the need for newly recruited teachers to be properly inducted prior to their actual deployment.

Priority is given to LET passers. The new teachers are to be deployed to schools that have long been in need of teachers or schools identified as red and black in the Enhanced Basic Education Information System (EBEIS).

Workshop on Learning Framework for Teduray children
Teduray's traditional leaders (timuays) and volunteer teachers converged for three days 3-day workshop. The workshop aimed to identify areas, competencies and themes under the New Early Learning Framework (NELF) where Teduray norms, traditions and customs can be integrated; and to design concept and activity webs based on the daily life environment of 5-year old Teduray children.

This workshop is part of the synergy to support IP education under the ARMM HELPS framework which was ordered by Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman. This activity is supported by the DepEd-ARMM and UNICEF.

Gulayan sa Paaralan
DepEd-ARMM and the DAF-ARMM through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) joined hands for the "Gulayan sa Paaralan" program. This program advocates and revitalizes vegetable gardening in public schools to help meet the nutritional requirements of school children especially in disadvantaged communities. The program was launched on June 9, 2013 coinciding with the "Farmer and Fisherfolk Recognition Week" and the 22nd year anniversary of the devolution of DAF-ARMM.

Loan Buy-Out Program

The loan Facility is part of the memorandum of agreement (MoA) executed between LBP and DepEd-ARMM upon the imprimatur of the ARMM Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman. This came about after it was found out that a sizable chunk of public school teachers mainly in Maguindanao are in huge debts to private lenders or lending institutions. According to the LBP, a total of 2,375 teachers availed of the loan facility we arranged last year. The total amount loaned out by the bank is 401,551,967.72.

The EBEIS
The Enhanced-Basic Education Information System (E-BEIS) is a web-based system that maintains a database of public and private schools’ education statistics. Pursuant to DepEd Order No. 39, s. 2011, the system was developed due to the urgent need to improve the collection of data from schools and streamline data management process to deliver timely, relevant and accurate information to effectively support planning, budgeting, formulating policies and other decision-making activities at various levels of the education system such as school, division, regional and national levels.
The Regional Office participates in the EBEIS through the Office of the Planning Services in the form of TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE by convening all division planning officers in the preparation of EBEIS Implementation Plan. During division orientations for the schools in the encoding, submission and validation of the EBEIS, the regional office sends regional planning staff to ensure clarity on instructions especially along changes in the accomplishing of the Government School Profiles for elementary and secondary schools.

The EBEIS activities are observed at the beginning of school year and end of school year, depending on the instructions from the central office.

"Moral Governance"

English - "Good governance for a progressive and peaceful BARMM."

Sinama - "Hap pamarinta tudju BARMM na sambu maka salamat"

Bahasa Sug - "Dan mabuntul tudju pa BARMM masambu iban mahatul"

Meranaw - "Mathitu a kandatu sa BARMM ko katagompiya go kalilintad"

Slogan

"Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE)"