DepEd, Kraft Launch “Palamantasan” In Mindanao

Be there to witness how this wide-scale competition rallies over 100 public and private schools from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao towards a healthier future for Filipino school children.

DepEd neKhaeZahwsaHw saH Jejemon pEhNnohmEYhna!

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / May 23, 2010) – Pinakikialaman ng Department of Education ang binansagang “Jejemon” texting style ng mga teenagers sa kabila ng mas maraming suliranin na hinaharap ng ahensya sa pagbubukas ng klase sa susunod na linggo.

Naging tanyag ang “Jejemon” texting dahil sa ibang spelling ng mga SMS nito na pinauso ng mga teenagers.

Hindi naman mabatid kung ano ang pakialam ng Department of Education sa naturang texting style ng mga kabataan ngayon, ngunit dapat umanong pagtuunan ng ahensya ang kakulangan ng mga libro, upuan, at kuwarto at paaralan sa buong bansa, partikular sa Mindanao.

Sinabi ni Department of Education Assistant Secretary Jonathan Malaya na dapat ituwid umano ng mga “Jejemon” texters ang kanilang mga SMS upang mas madaling maintindihan ng mga bumabasa ng kanilang mensahe sa cell phone.

“They should be able to send communication in a manner that is comprehensible…the Department of Education has to make a stand. The teachers should teach students the right way to communicate,” ani Malaya.

Isang halimbawa ng “Jejemon” texting ay: “'e0wSsZz pOwhhZzmUsZtAhH nUah pOwhHzz kEowHsz?” na kung iintindihin lamang ay ang ibig sabihin: “Hello po, musta na po kayo?”

Isang “Jejemon” texter ang nagsabing dapat napuna rin ng Department of Education ang kanta ng Sex Bomb Dancers na “Bilog na Hugis Itlog” dahil kahit saan angulo tignan ang hugis ng itlog ay hindi ito bilog kundi oblong.

“Ang dami pong problema namin mga estudyante tulad ng libro, desk at silya, silid-aralan, pero ang pagte-text ba namin ng Jejemon ay panghihimasukan pa ng DepEd? Yun nga pong kanta ng Sex Bomb (Dancers) na Bilog na Hugis Itlog ay mali po, bakit hindi nila pinansin? Bilog po ba ang hugis ng itlog?,” tanong pa ni Jejemon Rhea. (Mindanao Examiner)

Education As A Continuous Process And Enhancer Of Opportunities

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 17, 2008) - As the saying goes, "education is a continuous process,” thus, re-tooling, re-inventing and re-engineering are some of the few words used to describe the activities and events undertaken by an organization to impart education to its target clients.

Just recently, the proposal of Sulu Governor Sakur Tan to send ulama in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia to enhance their knowledge in the area of the shari'a law, philosophy, dialectical theology of Quoranic hermeneutics as part of a local education program through exposure is a case in point of education as a continuous process.

Similarly, the Department of Education has embarked on 'EXCELS' scholarship program for 1,600 public elementary and secondary school heads, nationwide, from November 2007 to July 2008 with the goal in mind to "continue the education process" especially to institutionalized sectors mandated to educate people. Here in Region-9, the program is set on February 27 to March 26 through iFLEX (or INNOTECH Flexible Learning Management System).

Experience, as best teacher pointed out to DepEd Sec. Jesli Lapuz that chunk of expenses were utilized for official travel than in directly teaching the marginal poor school children.

This experience resulted to the order of Sec. Lapuz for the adoption of measures and guidelines to cut travel cost. At the same time, DepEd's Bureau of Alternative Learning System (DepEd-BALS) called on all regional directors to be prompt in releasing the salary and other financial incentives of at least 1,381mobile teachers. A lesson learned that could be taken for granted is: "Give due credit to where it is due. After all, the mobile teachers are the ones deployed to deprived, depressed and underserved areas in the country to do alternative education to reach out all kinds of learners.'

Remarkably, the concerted efforts of DepEd-9, and the LGUs resulted in the improvement of the elementary school children in the National Aptitude Test (NAT), placing it this year at the 6th place from its 11th rank in 2004.

Finally, the continuous education process is also evident in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas system as it re-invents itself to push for the financial literacy campaign for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), teaching them how to use their hard-earned money wisely.

BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Gunigundo said they are going around the country to educate the families of OFWs on the facets of entrepreneurship and investing in different financial institutions, conducting lectures for them to become investors rather than mere consumers, so much so that the peso continues to appreciate against the dollar, short-changing the value of their remittances due to the lowering of foreign exchange rates.

Exposure trips, scholarships, virtue-laden living or paradigm shift of homemakers to entrepreneurship are proofs that education is as incessant as breathing.

The Arroyo Administration, cognizance of this continuous process of educating its citizens called on both chambers of Congress to immediately pass the proposed P1.227-trillion national budget for 2008 to avoid delay in the implementation of the government's priority projects and programs, with a budget allocation for education topping the list at P3.320 billion. (Philippine Information Agency/Mimi Edaga)

Disgruntled Teachers In Sulu Hold Protest Rally, Classes Suspended

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 03, 2007) – Hundreds of disgruntled government teachers walked out of schools Monday in the southern Filipino province of Sulu and threatened to barricade themselves unless their salaries have paid.

The teachers complained that they have not been paid their wages the past months by the Department of Education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and that their contributions to the state pension agency which are worth over 600 million pesos since 2003 were also missing.

They threatened to stage a mass protest should ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan fail to act on their problems. More than 5,000 teachers are currently teaching in Sulu province, about 950 kilometers south of Manila.

“The teachers are no longer reporting for work. We can no longer take it; our plight is so difficult now. We are suffering,” Faizal Kaddi, secretary of the Sug Educators Forum, told the radio network dzRH by phone from Jolo town, where they held a protest rally in front of the Department of Education.

Kaddi said they received reports that teachers in Basilan province also walked out of their classes.

“The whole world should know how difficult the situation of the teachers in the ARMM. We cannot bear it anymore and we are slowly losing our dignity,” he said.

In October, more than 1,000 public school teachers sought the help of Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan and asked him to President Gloria Arroyo of their plight.

Abdulbasit Pawakil, president of the larger Federation of Sulu Teachers, also asked for a government audit and to investigate the problems of delayed and missing salaries and contributions to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

He said that as of 2003, more than P389 million of teachers’ contributions to GSIS were missing and that this has ballooned to over P600 million and yet ARMM continues to deduct insurance premiums from their salaries. “What is going on? We know the problems, yet nobody is acting on it,” he said.

The teachers were asking for a formal Congressional or Senate investigations into the missing GSIS contributions and salaries and jail those who would be found guilty of embezzling funds.

Others have called on Ampatuan to resign for his failure to address the problems of the teachers in Sulu. They also wanted the Department of Education in Manila to take over the responsibilities of deducting state pension contributions and paying their salaries from the ARMM.

Lawyer Oscar Sampulna, ARMM Executive Secretary, denied all the allegations and insisted the teachers received their salaries on time.

“They are receiving their salaries. Those who are complaining were temporary teachers whose special permits to teach had not been renewed or revoked basically for their lack of the proper documents required by the Department of Education,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

None from the Department of Education in ARMM or any of its representatives went to Sulu to talk to the teachers about their complaints. Sampulna said those who were complaining should go to the ARMM in Cotabato City in Maguindanao province about their problems. (Mindanao Examiner)