OPINION: From 10 to 'K to 12'

NELSON MANDELA once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which can be used to change the world." Last June 3, 2013, over 23 million elementary and high school students in more than 45,000 public schools nationwide started, or continued, their journey to change the world.

Markedly, however, most of them began the school year not only with new uniforms and new classmates, but with an entirely new curriculum.

Republic Act No 10533, otherwise known as the "Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013”, was signed into law by President Aquino last May 15.

With the passage of RA 10533, the K to 12 basic education program was formalized.

From the former 10-year basic education curriculum, the K to 12 program mandates one year of kindergarten and 12 years of basic education, comprising of six years of primary education, four years of junior high and two years of senior high school.

The shift from 10 to 12 years of basic education is more than just a numbers game.

According to the Department of Education (DepEd), the rationale for RA 10533 is to address the poor quality of basic education provided by the current curriculum as reflected in the low achievement scores of Filipino students and the Philippines' unemployment rate.

International test results, like the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), rank the Philippines not only below the international average, but also as the last in Asia.

The salient features of RA 10533 seek to: strengthen early childhood education; build proficiency through language; and provide specialized upper secondary education.

Universal Kindergarten.

In consonance with Republic Act No 10157, or the "Kindergarten Education Act", RA 10533 institutionalizes Kindergarten education -- one year of preparatory education for children at least five years old, as part of the basic education system and as a prerequisite for admission to Grade 1.

Public schools will continue to admit children who have not taken Kindergarten into Grade 1 only until this school year.

Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education.

As it is believed that language plays a strategic role in shaping the formative years of learners, basic education shall now be delivered in languages understood by the learners - or the learners' "Mother Tongue”..

Twelve Mother Tongue languages have been introduced for SY 2012-2013: Bahasa Sug, Bikol, Cebuano, Chabacano, Hilagaynon, Ilokano, Kapampangan, Maguindanaoan, Maranao, Pangasinense, Tagalog and Waray.

Thus, for kindergarten and Grades 1 to 3, the learners' Mother Tongue shall be used for instruction, teaching materials, and assessment. DepEd Order No. 31, series of 2012, clarified that from Grades 1 to 3, Filipino and English will be taken only as a subject, together with the learners' Mother Tongue.

Thereafter, the DepEd will formulate a mother language transition program from Grades 4 to 6, so that Filipino and English shall gradually be introduced as languages of instruction, until such time when these two languages can become the primary languages of instruction at the secondary level.

Senior High School.

Two years of specialized upper secondary education shall be added to the high school program.

Students will be assessed to determine their interests and strengths and help them decide on their specialization. The choice of specialization will define the content of the subjects a student will take in Grades 11 and 12.

They may choose from either Core Curriculum or Specific Tracks subjects. The Core Curriculum is composed of seven learning areas: Languages, Literature, Communication, Mathematics, Philosophy, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences; while the three-track subjects are Academic; Technical-Vocational-Livelihood; and Sports and Arts.

The Academic track includes 3 strands: Business, Accountancy and Management; Humanities, Education and Social Sciences; and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Students can obtain Certificates of Competency or National Certificate Level I and II, after finishing Grade 10 and 12, respectively.

This new certification system aims to improve the chances for employment of graduates and will allow them to have middle-level skills or become entrepreneurs after graduating from high school.

Despite its laudable objectives, various stakeholders have expressed concern that the implementation of RA 10533 will only add to the already heavy burden of students, teachers and parents, rather than address the basic shortcomings in our educational system.

Moreover, it was noted that the DepEd already lacks resources to address the current shortages in public schools, and the emphasis on the K to 12 program will only aggravate these serious shortages.

We can only hope for the success of the K to 12 program so that our children can be better equipped to cope with the challenges of life and change the world for the better. - bworldonline

(Dyan Danika G Lim is an associate of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW). She may be contacted at 830-8000 or through dglim@accralaw.com)

  

 

Parang beach toilets … The recent coming of two public toilets (top and above) to the beach area in Parang, a baranggay outside of the poblacion of Mambulao, has been very helpful in keeping sanitation around the place, especially along the shoreline. For years, the squatter residents in this part of beach did not have a proper toilet, thus leaving them no option but to dispose their excreta along the beach, with adults doing it mostly in the night, while the kids first thing in the morning, with their mothers closely watching. This had aggravated the rubbish situation along the 1.5km long beach, which for years until the middle of 2012 had been almost inundated by community wastes that sailed into the beach lines from the baranggays of Osmenia, Bagong-bayan, Plaridel, Parang, Pag-asa, Sta Milagrosa, Calero and Malapayungan. Sometime last year a group of concerned citizens decided to solve the toilet problem in this area of Purok 5 by building the two toilets. However, there’s still a problem, the cubicles -- one for male and the other for female -- of one of them have not been completed as of this writing. The two cubicles needed decent doors for the users’ comforting privacy. And what’s more, the residents said that they could only use them once in a while because they have no source of water to flush. So, what they have been doing at the moment was to walk to the other toilet, the third, on the other side of the purok some 200m away for relief. Reason: this toilet (below) built some 10 years ago, could be flushed with water from a deep well pump next to it. The walk-in users said it was too costly for them to use the “Nawasa” water in flushing the toilet in their neighborhood. They appealed to their baranggay to provide them a deep well pump (that roughly costs about P5,000 to install, excluding the cost of labor which could be provided by the locals “ala-bayanihan”. – MWBuzzpics and story by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ, April 2013

MambulaoWatch: Of Facebook and the JPCN Group

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

 

MAMBULAO has become a hot commodity since two years ago, drawing so much online attention to itself from people from both overseas and elsewhere in the Philippines.

And notably, it also drew the curiosity, which later morphed into admiration, from non-Mambulaoans, who have lately developed interest in our community, with a say or two to chip in.

It is a curious phenomenon. It has caught the imagination of the many – the professionals and otherwise, overseas resident, overseas contract workers and many others that included walk-in browsers.

Thanks to the many development initiatives of our mayor, Dong Padilla, his vice-mayor, Aye Non and the supportive majority members of the current Sangguniang Bayan.

Now, Mambulaoans’ keen interest in our beloved town has grown from just a tiny candle flame to a what I could describe as “conflagration”, that even the non-natives had sought to be included into the feverish discussions via postings on the Facebook account of the Mambulao group, known as the Jose Panganiban Camarines Norte Group.

As a supposed closed-group whose non-Mambulaoan members were endorsed to get their membership, the JPCN group has drawn about 1,800 from all over the world.

Surprisingly, the outsiders are now being cut off from the site because of postings that touched on politics and other interests, and instead are now being nastily relegated to a newly-created FB group where they can vent their ideas, frustrations, anger, and where they can engage anybody to online debate and verbal fisticuffs

It was one reason, as put forward by one of the site’s administrators and an instigator of the “kick them out” rule, why only 10 percent of the supposed 1,800 members, or 180, are participating in the day to day exhanges.

He alleged that the members have felt the site has become a venue for the so-called elitists, the articulate and the wordy among the members, who proved to be more active than the native Mambulaoans, in ventilating their thoughts, thus turning off, allegedly, those who can just barely type a few words or two every time.

The remedy, which was carried out in a blitz, is to send the non-Mambulaoans to two newly-created FB sites where they can do their thing.

This was immediately rejected by another administrator, who earlier suggested/proposed that the term “mamayan” (resident) referred to in the house rules be changed to “kasapi” (member), to cover everybody who should be given a space on the site, and not just the natives.

This way, the non-Mambulaoans would feel at ease of not being discriminated or kicked out.

But this was allegedly turned down by the majority and having been spurned in his suggestion, he is inclined to quit the site and shut his mouth.

Personally, I resent this house rule for being unjust and divisive.

We should remember that when the Internet came into what it is as we know it now, its creators/ designers had in mind the wide world around us and knocked down all barriers of communication between nations, between races, between entities –both human and those created by laws – and between human beings.

The exchange of ideas took place instantly-- not in two seconds, but instantly.

This is why Mambulaoans and those “who don’t belong” but with a thing or two to share by way or a posting on the JPCN Group Facebook site, have been encouraged to join in the debate and fray – whether it is about politics, social issues, economics  -- or just to simply text a plain and colorless “hi” or “hello” to fellow Facebookers.

Now, some smart guys in the core group wanted this undone by barring non-Mambulaons from the roster.

The agenda is to make the website a pure Mambulaoan affair and send the “outsiders” instead to a website they can only half-appreciate, simply because they are being removed from where the real action is and relegated to a box where they could be easily confined alongside their political sentiments, anger, frustrations and all.

Clearly, this is negating the purpose of the Internet, which is opening the line of lightning-speed communication between and among human being

If I were to create a new Facebook group, I would certainly open it to people with hearts for, and interest in, Mambulao, and let them talk and get mad.

This will make the site a better place to be, as it will give them a natural habitat, with a climate of ease and tolerance for their great ideas as well as concern for our beloved Mambulao.

Who knows, this could be a cauldron where ideas are boiled to high heat, thus processing a workable solution to the  problems now besetting Mambulao and its people.

And I am very sure the potential “joiners” are many, including those who are now listed under JPCN Group.

But sadly, I won’t do it.

One new website of this brand would just crowd out the rest, adding more to confusion.

And detractors would immediately brand this as “divisive”.

But look who’s talking!

For reaction, email: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg

EDITORIAL: Fixing a fragmented community

Big task ahead .... The newly-elected members of the Jose Panganiban Sangguniang Bayan will take their oath of office on Sunday, June 30. From left: Jason Arriola (in red T-shirt), Pompeo "Bebot Guzman, Artemio Andaya, Zarah Marie Aviado, Ariel Villaflores, Aristeo "Tingting "Arenal, Diday Abano.Vice-Mayor Ariel Non. Casiano Dilao is not in picture. – Photo courtesy Facebook JPCN Group

THE voters of Mambulao have spoken.

One third of them voted three independent candidates in the Sanguniang Bayan race; another third elected three from the Liberal Party, with two of them re-electionists; and the other third chose to re-elect the two incumbent members who belonged to the slate of re-elected Mayor Ricarte (Dong) Padilla.

In short, the voting sector and their families were definitely divided, not just equally in two’s, but three-ways.

In the last polls, Mambulao had been fragmented three-ways, but this should not be an excuse not focus towards one goal, which is the greater good of Mambulaoans, especially those needing help from those who have the opportunity to help, and they are just too many in our midst: the less-privileged, the marginalized and those who just barely survive. 

Padilla, this time, has no option but to welcome the six non-family members with an open heart and open arms, and work them to cooperate as a team in furthering his agenda of bringing positive changes to the psyche of their constituents through development programs and tangible evidence of progress.

Meanwhile, Mambulaoans are likely to regard the new set of SB regime with open mind and open eyes. 

A third of them – the opposition supporters -- would watch closely the three Independent members (are they up to the job?); the other third would keep an eye on the three from the LP (will they really cooperate?), and the rest would not spare a wink in looking closely at the six members who don’t belong to the administration, and therefore, a threat. 

They knew that the administration SB members are outnumbered.

And in the play of numbers, any initiative from the administration could easily be pushed down the drain by the six others, leaving the two Padilla men helpless.

The community as a whole hopes this would not be the scenario.

In any case, all of them are watching and listening.

This is a good sign.

Unlike in the past post electoral exercises when the voters forgot all about the winning men and women after being proclaimed and went about their day to day task of earning a living to survive, this time they would surely spare time to put the new set of SB members under the microscope … and to task.

One obvious reason is that Mambulaoans have this time awoken from a deep slumber of “walang pakialam” to watch closely how the new set of councilors will work their fresh three years in office and compare their performance to the very recent past – which is the past three years of Padilla in office where he and the SB people from his family worked, with a sprinkling of chip-ins from the two LP men, to effect the positive changes that the community are witnessing now across the 27 baranggays of the municipality.

In its previous several commentaries, MWBuzz stressed that the coming of the concrete roads to Mambulao’s rural communities and other people-focused programs did not happen over the past 50 years.

It only did at the start of Padilla’s term that began in July 2010 and this is one big task to keep going on – not by the mayor alone but by the entire SB hierarchy as well.

Padilla, after licking his wound from his loss of four in his slate to the six men and women of the opposition, immediately forged a truce with them by declaring in three simple words: Walang ng politika …”

This should encourage the six opposition – three LPs and three Independents – to lower their guard and extend a hand of cooperation to the two others from the minority group as well as to Padilla and the re-elected vice-mayor, Ariel (Aye) Non.

Cooperation should be the key word this time; there is a mountain of tasks to surmount. As always, a team working in harmony is must and the new SB could do no less.

After the dust of electoral conflicts had settled, the constituents are seeing that the road ahead of them is long and strewn with heavy concern on joblessness, poor health among many Mambulaoans, the drug problem, the occurrence of crime in broad daylight and the continuous degradation of the environment caused by illegal gold mining operations, among others.

A group of concerned Mambulaoans, both based overseas and in the Philippines, have put forward some urgent initiatives that the newly elected SB should consider for positive action.

It should be stressed here that such initiatives are just the condensed forms of what they sold to the voters during their campaign.

1. A proposed ordinance to create an anti-crime task force;

2. A proposed ordinance to buy and install CCTV (close-circuit TV) facilities in public places such as market, municipal hall, parks, terminals and entry points to Jose Panganiban town proper.

3. A proposed ordinance to acquire/use drug-snipping dogs;

4. A proposed ordinance on the mandatory testing for drugs of all government employees

5. An initiative to intensify the gathering of intelligence on potential security threats.

6. Recognizing by way of a citation/award those baranggays that have stamped drug-use in their area.

7. A review, and if possible, an amendment to existing curfew ordinance covering minors and children;

8. A text-a-crime initiative to report an impending, on-going and just committed crime;

9. The conduct of a law and order council meetings and the writing of progress report for public consumption.

10. An all-out war against illegal drugs and illegal fishing, jueteng, and the strong enforcement of the anti-piracy laws.

11. An initiative to profile certain baranggay residents to determine if they are legitimately residing in the area;

12. A SB resolution to acquire motorcycle units for distribution to law enforcement units and baranggay police for patrolling operations. 

From a fragmented front, Mambulaoans should come together this time and make the new SB members aware that they are not in a picnic; that the three years ahead is not that long for them to squander on non-people focused concerns.

The jobs that Padilla and company delivered in the past three years would be tough to surpass. 

The newly-elected SB members should now wake up from their day-dreaming of having won the election and face the reality that the people are much more vigilant this time than before.

And they demand positive action and top results.

-- Alfredo P Hernandez

Rising crime in Mambulao decried

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

 

THE newly-elected government of Jose Panganiban has been tasked to stamp out the growing crime in the community, which could only succeed if crime prevention initiatives are given enough funds.

The call to solve broad-daylight criminal activities and to stop them for good surfaced on the Facebook group of Mambulaoans living overseas and elsewhere in the Philippines.

One US resident, Mary Fee Barcoma Dearth, has urged the newly-elected members of the local government unit (LGU) to take crime prevention “seriously”, and at the same time told them “not to wait for the next victim before taking necessary action”.

Dearth wanted the LGU to increase the funding for the crime prevention task force, which could boost the effort to jail local criminals.

One FB habitué had posted about a recent holdup incident in the market area in broad daylight.

Patricia Anne Rojas posted: “Sa may kay Ong nga daw po may tinutukan ng kutsilyo sa leeg … kaya ibinigay na lang niya ang kanyang cellphone.”

“Ong” referred to a store at the public market owned by a prominent town councilor.

Overseas Mambulaoans also decried the rising incidences of drug-related crime, while others had blamed the increasing number of migrants from other provinces who came to look for jobs in the gold mining district while breaking the laws.

FB member Antonio Puso Vergara said the trouble-makers could be from Metro Manila and were spending their vacation in town.

He urged the local law enforcement unit of the LGU, including the police, “not to sleep on their job”.

A number of overseas Mambulaoans have expressed their fear that the place they very well knew has become unsafe for many residents.

One of them has observed that the culprits were no longer afraid of the law as they were always on drugs.

One resident, Bench Enesio, blamed the parents of minors involved in petty crimes.

He said: Irresponsible parenthood is the main cause of delinquencies among the children in Mambulao, and these parents are the first ones who prevent their crime-offending children from being locked up.

He also blamed a law that prevents the jailing of minors involved in adult crimes, such as break-and-enter robbery and stealing.

For reaction, please email: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg