Luistro, who opened the 11th School Health and Nutrition Congress at the Teachers’ Camp in Baguio City, said he would like for the Department of Education to have a complete profile of the health and nutrition conditions of every public elementary and high school student so DepEd could determine which school should have health interventions.

Education Undersecretary Yolanda Quijano, in the same congress, said poor learning has been attributed to the health condition of pupils.

Last Monday, Luistro attended a DepEd consultation for the K+12 basic education reform program. K+12 extends the elementary school cycle with Grade 7, and adds a fifth year for what is now the junior high school program, starting in 2012.

In 2016, the government will enforce a two-year senior high school program.

Rizalino Rivera, DepEd undersecretary for regional operations, said the agency’s health and nutrition concerns have been made part of the K+12 reforms.

Since all pupils must be “predisposed to learning,” the agency “cannot have children who are unhealthy (and) who have difficulty (absorbing classroom lessons),” he said.

DepEd’s mandate has always been “to ensure a student’s readiness to learn,” he said.

Luistro’s proposal is to popularize the screening process through classroom lessons, according to Ramon Bacani, director of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization’s Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology.

For example the monthly exercise, which would require teachers to monitor a pupil’s weight, could be explored as a classroom math problem that would allow the student to understand what appropriate weight was necessary for his height or age, said Bacani, a former DepEd undersecretary.

Quijano, who heads the DepEd division for projects and programs, said the national screening process to be undertaken by teachers and school health workers must note the number of schools with bigger health problems.  /INQUIRER

Source:
Inquirer.net 

Education Secretary Armin Luistro told The STAR the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has made “substantial approval” of the initial guidelines set by the DepEd technical working group (TWG) in charge of coming out with the parameters and bid documents that will be issued to groups participating in the bidding for the classroom construction.

“We believe we can have the public bidding early next year,” he said.

“It will be an initial batch of 10,000 classrooms in the first year, and another 10,000 in the next year and then another 10,000 in the next.”

DepEd had set aside a budget of P1.5 billion to P2 billion for servicing the financing requirements of classroom construction, Luistro said.

The construction of 30,000 classrooms, if successfully implemented, will enable DepEd to slash by almost half the classroom shortage in public schools within a period of three years under the PPP scheme.

As of school year 2011-2012, the classroom shortage has been placed at 68,000.

The bidding for the construction of classrooms was expected to present new technologies to allow the completion of classrooms in a period of two months to as short as one month, Luistro said.

The DepEd TWG on the PPP-funded classroom construction program is working with the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Finance, the Department of Budget and Management and the PPP Center on the bidding.

Education Assistant Secretary Jesus Mateo, a member of the DepEd TWG, said they expect to finish the bid documents by February next year.

DepEd earlier decided to conduct a public bidding after several groups had submitted proposals to help it plug the classroom shortage in public schools under the PPP scheme.

Empowering students

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales is seeking to empower the spirit of volunteerism among elementary and high school students through an improved Junior Graftwatch Unit (JGU) program to intensify the fight against graft and corruption.

Officials and employees of the anti-graft agency, members of the Multi-Sectoral Anti-Corruption Council (MSACC), and JGU officers and advisers from the National Capital Region (NCR) will lead a march in Quezon City tomorrow morning.

With this year’s theme of “Strengthening JGU Volunteerism: Youth In Action Against Corruption,” the Office of the Ombudsman and its partners will celebrate 15 years of empowering the younger generation against graft and corruption through a “We Walk Our Talk: Alay Lakad Kontra Korupsiyon” event around the Quezon Memorial Circle Biker’s Lane.

The anti-graft agency’s JGU project primarily seeks to help Filipino children and teenagers learn how to become good leaders.

Grade 2 pupils are now being taught the basic principle of “not taking what is not yours,” which will hopefully stay with them as they grow up.

Officials of the anti-graft agency said the idea is to teach the youngest of minds the values of honesty, patriotism, political neutrality, and simple living.

The Office of the Ombudsman is now pushing for a more comprehensive and extensive program that will teach the country’s next generation leaders the value of good governance.

“It’s fighting corruption in the grassroots level,” Dr. Gloria Pernes of the Benigno Aldana National High School in Pangasinan said in a recent interview during the anti-graft agency’s Magsumbong sa Ombudsman radio program aired over dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.

As a JGU adviser who is helping the anti-graft agency in its goal of taking its corruption prevention program to elementary and high school students nationwide, she said young people are very eager to learn and are showing so much enthusiasm.

Pernes said high school students are very receptive in seminars and orientations that are being conducted to teach them about being good Filipinos by helping rid the country of graft and corruption.

Rhodora Galicia, director of the Office of the Ombudsman’s Community Coordination Bureau (CCB), said the JGU program, under the leadership of Morales, is being expanded to reach more students in more schools.

Galicia said the JGU program works by giving elementary and high school teachers teaching exemplars which allow them to integrate anti-graft-related principles and values in the Makabayan and Values Education subjects, she added.

“This is for the youth, for moral values so that our young people will become good citizens,” Angel Cusi, also of the CCB, said.

Cezar Tirol, of the Bureau of Resident Ombudsman (BRO), said with Morales as the country’s new chief graft buster, the JGU program is being improved to make it more comprehensive and extensive “to keep up with its recognition as one of the world’s best practices in corruption prevention.” – With Michael Punongbayan

Source:
Philippine Star

According to Education Secretary Armin Luistro, the contest aims to engage teachers and students nationwide to generate local content using community mapping techniques and information and communication technology (ICT).

“It also aims to promote ICT integration in basic education through curriculum-based topic categories and to encourage teachers and students to use local content in curriculum applications,” he explained.

The contest also aims to develop students’ skills in research, writing, leadership, teamwork, and technology, and to encourage schools to build relationships with other Smart Schools Partners (SSP) and groups within their local communities, to raise the students’ awareness.

Through DepEd Memorandum No. 169, Series of 2011, Luistro asked bureau directors, directors of services, centers and heads of units, regional directors, schools division/city superintendents and heads of public and private secondary schools to encourage their teachers and students to register in the contest which is slated from July 11 to Aug. 30, 2011.

Based on the mechanics of the contest, the SSP and online associates or the secondary schools are required to submit at least one entry to the learning challenge and will be awarded with points for “School Mo Panalo.”

The teacher-student teams are expected to design and develop a video blog site where they will present the stories of their respective communities.

The stories will be based on environment and disaster preparedness, arts and culture, history and society, and travel and cuisine.

The winners of the contest will be invited to exhibit their entries during the DPSA awarding ceremony to be held in Manila in February 2012.

The Grand Champion for the “Ano ang Kwento Mo” contest will receive P30,000 for the DPSA school team; the Category Winner will receive P10,000 for DPSA school teams; and the Special Awards (Best in Video Blog Site Design and Layout; Best in Team Collaboration; Best in ICT Integration; and Best in Community Involvement) winner will receive P5,000.

Credits:
Ina Hernando-Malipot, 7-30-2011

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/328884/deped-smart-launch-blog-competition

“So maybe there will be 13,000 new teachers going into classrooms before June or within the month of June,” Luistro said.

The official made the announcement on the sidelines of an education conference of officials from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at the Ateneo Professional Schools in at Rockwell, Makati City.

During the conference, local government officials and regional educational officials set programs to attain education targets in the coming years, particularly preventing dropouts and bringing out-of-school youth back to schooling.

He said some teachers have been waiting in line to enter DepEd’s teaching force while other applications may be pending.

Some 22 million students are expected to troop to public schools when classes resume on June 6.

DepEd is also hiring contractual teachers for the expected increase in kindergarten students by the coming school year. To date, some one million five-year-olds out of the target 2.4 million kinder-age students have signed up to enroll in public kindergarten by June.

Source: Inquirer.net, Tarra Quismundo, 05-05-2011

On top of DepEd’s priority list is the continuous inspection and reassessment of the structural integrity of public elementary and high school buildings.

Oliver Hernandez, chief engineer of DepEd’s Physical Facilities and Schools Engineering Division (PFSED), says they have been regularly conducting inspection of school buildings, addressing those that need repair, rehabilitation or replacement.

Hernandez says that in 2010, about 671 school buildings out of 779 were inspected and were found to have structural defects. At present, there are 45,625 elementary and high schools across the country, 752 of which are in the NCR region.

Structurally-sound?
“A structurally-sound school building shouldn’t have defects in its structural components, in the columns, beams, girders, and suspended slabs. If defects such as hairline cracks are on walls that do not carry any load, that shouldn’t be a problem. But if the hairline cracks are in the columns, that has to be immediately addressed,” Hernandez explains.

Several badly-damaged buildings with cracks in the structural components have already been demolished and replaced. Meanwhile, 100 of the 869 decades-old buildings identified as Gabaldon schools have undergone retrofitting.

“When we retrofit, we strengthen the columns, beams, the structural components. Ideally, the wood used in these heritage structures should be replaced with steel bars to make it sturdy,” Hernandez notes.

Private schools, too
Moreover, he says school buildings built in the last 11 years are deemed as strong because they can withstand up to a magnitude-7 earthquake and has an estimated life span of 50 years.

“These schools constructed from the year 2000 onwards are compliant with the National Building Code (NBC) standards, with increase in the specification of the use of steel bars, and the mixture of
cement and concrete. But even if we experience an earthquake a little stronger than the magnitude-7 building capacity, these structures will not simply collapse because of the buffer that we put in it. It may just sustain structural defects because it has reached its maximum limit,” Hernandez explains.

Yet considering the stronger earthquakes that have been occurring these days, Hernandez says there is a need to revise the NBC which was last improved in 2000.

“Structural engineers must need to improve the Building Code so new buildings that will be built can now withstand the stronger earthquakes such as a magnitude -9,” he adds.

For a more comprehensive school building inspection and assessment, Hernandez says private schools must also give DepEd the authority to conduct these\ safety measures in their campuses.

“I think we have to be strict on the yearly issuance of school permits and include the structural soundness of a building as requirement before DepEd issues a permit to operate.”

10 MM schools with structural defects
DepEd and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have in the past years, identified some 10 Metro Manila schools which have structural defects. Since then, DepEd has been addressing the structural problems in these schools namely; Araullo High School (HS), Manuel Roxas HS, Manila HS, T. Paez Elementary School (ES) and HS, T. Alonzo HS, Kalayaan HS, A.
Bonifacio HS, Renato Lopez ES, and Pag-Asa ES.

Of the 10 schools, Araullo HS and Manuel Roxas HS used to be among the most dilapidated and were declared condemned. The 1945 and 1965 structures respectively were demolished in 2007 and replaced with new ones in 2008 and 2009.

“Dati pag dumadaan yung mga trucks, container vans along UN, nagsheshake na yung mga buildings namin,” says Dr. Loida Diaz, principal of Manuel Roxas HS located along Plaza Dilao in UN Avenue, Manila. Apart from the new building, another four-storey structure is being built in the campus with funding from the local government of Manila.

Araullo High School also has new school buildings for its 5,200 students.

A three-storey edifice funded by the DepEd is being built to augment the shortage of classrooms.

However, its principal Elena Batusan says two classrooms in a recentlyrepaired building have sustained some big cracks in the walls. A small building where the canteen and some shops are located is also scheduled for demolition this month. Other than those, the school is as good as new.

The main campus of Manila High School in Intramuros, Manila is also undergoing major repair of its classrooms as well as the construction of a two-storey school building. A new building was just completed this year.

“Ang problema na lang namin yung mga unruly outsiders na nambabato ng mga windows ng school sa gabi. Weeks after the new building was constructed, binato na rin kaagad yung mga windows,
pati guard namin so we called the attention of our barangay captain. They acted on our complaint and so far, everything is okay now,” reveals Winefrida Lagman, principal of Manila High.

School on earthquake fault?
As of this writing, reports that the Bagong Silangan Elementary School and High School in Quezon City are sitting on top the West Valley fault and is therefore at risk of collapsing in case of a strong earthquake, remain unconfirmed by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Lynn Melo Santos, Phivolcs senior science research specialist in the Geology and Geophysics Research and Development Division, clarifies that no school in their map is being traversed by the West Valley Fault.

The West Valley Fault starts from the Sierra Madre and passes through Bulacan, Rodriguez, Rizal, Quezon City, all the way to the east of Metro Manila, the cities of Pasig, Taguig, Muntinlupa, and the provinces of San Pedro, and Sta. Rosa in Laguna and ends in Carmona, Cavite.

Santos says Phivolcs will conduct a site inspection in Bagong Silangan to determine the school’s proximity to the fault.

Meanwhile, Quezon City DepEd Superintendent Corazon Rubio says until they have received advice from Philvolcs, there is no need to take urgent measures including reports of relocating the entire school to another place.

“Up to now, we are maintaining the status quo, holding regular classes and pushing through with the graduation rites on April 1. We are making sure that our 12,000 students and their parents are not affected by these unconfirmed reports. Bagong Silangan is an entire barangay, not just our school. So I guess it will be hard for authorities to relocate an entire barangay, especially to the proposed location at Sitio Veterans where the property is not even owned by the city government,” says Rubio.

Nevertheless, Rubio points out that they are still preparing themselves for the worst case scenario through the conduct of emergency drills for students, seminars on risk reduction management for teachers and parents, as well as a partnership with the barangay and QC local government for the search and rescue operation.

DepEd, on the other hand, is integrating a Disaster Risk Reduction program in the curriculum of elementary and high schools and the dissemination of a Disaster Risk Resource Manual.

Source: The Manila Bulletin, Rachel C. Barawid, 03-31-2011

“I will be former secretary by July 1. But the team at DepEd will bridge with President Noynoy our concerns as he committed that education will be a priority in his administration,” said Valisno.

Earlier this week, an association of public school teachers nationwide pressed DepEd for the prompt implementation of the salary adjustment of teachers under the Salary Standardization Law III (SSL3) approved by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in June last year.

Valisno revealed that the Department will make representations with teachers on SSL III through DepEd’s agency transition officials including Legal Affairs Undersecretary Franklin Sunga, Undersecretary for Finance Manaros Bonansing, and Assistant Secretary Special Projects and Legislative Affairs Jonathan Malaya.

Source: Manila Bulletin, June 26, 2010, Ina Hernandez- Malipot

Brought to you by: cheap rugs – is a great rugs site that provides high quality area rugs at low prices

Amid state and local budget cuts, cash-poor urban districts like New York City and Los Angeles, which once hired thousands of young people every spring, have taken down the help-wanted signs.

A number of Filipino teachers started their trek to the U.S. in 2004 when 268 were deployed to unified school districts rising to 488 in 2005, 521 in 2006, 971 in 2007, 865 in 2008.

In 2009 only 255 were able to reach the U.S. mainland.

This year, job orders for teachers at the POEA are down as America comes to grips with slashed school budgets. Because of this, many teachers were forced to go on leave and school days were reduced so that the school district budgets can be stretched further.

Most of the Filipino teachers specialized in Math, Science and Special Education. Many of them came from exclusive private schools and an exceptional few from national schools.

Recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani reported from Los Angeles that new applicants are being turned away despite having passed the rigorous California teacher’s exam or CBEST. Furloughs or forced leaves for teachers were given as California is beset with financial troubles.

At the University of Pennsylvania, most of the 90 aspiring teachers who graduated last weekend are jobless. Many had counted on offers from the Philadelphia public schools but had their interviews canceled this month after the district announced a hiring freeze.