Philippine Basic Education

It has been twelve days since my family participated in a community rally for black lives matter. Knock on wood, I have not heard from anyone in the rally who have contracted the novel coronavirus. These rallies have been widespread, but no surge in cases has been associated with these gatherings. In our neighborhood protest, it was impossible to maintain a social distance of six feet, but there was one thing everyone was able to observe. Everyone was wearing a mask. My daughter Amelia speaks in a rally for Black Lives Matter Several weeks have already passed since massive rallies for George Floyd were staged. Yet, surges in cases have not occurred. Take, for instance, Minneapolis, the epicenter of these protests. At this time, the city is reporting only 1.4 percent positive for those who were tested and also attended rallies. The same is true for other major metropolitan areas where demonstrations happened. Above copied from Intelligencer The photo and caption above probably captures ...

Due to plumbing and other required fixtures, comfort rooms are more expensive to build than regular offices. Back in 2015, Figueroa and coworkers find that while 50 out of 75 provinces in the Philippines satisfy the recommended number of pupils per classroom only 7 meet the number of toilets necessary for schools. The recent move made by teachers of converting comfort rooms into faculty offices, characterized by the secretary of education as dramatic and touching, seems to illustrate both a lack of awareness of how important comfort rooms are for students in schools and the uniqueness of these rooms when it comes to plumbing and fixtures. Above copied from Ligaya Leah Figueroa, Samsung Lim & Jihyun Lee (2016) Spatial analysis to identify disparities in Philippine public school facilities, Regional Studies, Regional Science, 3:1, 1-27, DOI: 10.1080/21681376.2015.1099465 There is no question regarding how much the government is playing catch-up with resources required in...

For the past six years, the budget for building classrooms in the Philippines has been rising every year. Yet, classroom shortages still exist. The image of about sixty second grade students cramped inside a former toilet as they listen to their teacher Leonora Jusay remains, even with billions of pesos assigned to alleviate the overcrowding of schools in the country. Above copied from Public Radio International The amount of money supposedly assigned to building classrooms has continued to rise for the past six years: From 2011 to this year, more than 300 billion pesos have been allocated for building classrooms. At a cost of 2 million pesos per classroom, this amounts to 150000 classrooms. With 40 students per classroom, this number of classrooms then translates to 6 million pupils. There were about half a million classrooms in the country in 2015 . With the seemingly endless budget allocation for classrooms, why do classroom shortages persist? This was the same question ...

My son was not that enthusiastic to go to school when he was in first grade. There was even a slight hint of separation anxiety during the first few weeks that I dropped him off at school. My son is now in fifth grade and a few days ago, I received the following note from his principal, Brian Butler: " I just wanted to share something truly special from my point of view that happened today.  I was in Alex's class and saw him working with some classmates so I asked them what they were doing. Alex explained the math game that they were  playing and the others chimed in and then he went about in the most appropriate manner, organizing how it would be played. He also worked with his classmates to roll the dice 🎲 to see who would begin. Someone else got a closer number to what was rolled than what Alex had, and he was so polite and said, "You go first."  Then they played the game and it was so heartwarming to see how the boys played together and in this particular situ...

"One should not bother saying please. Just tell your students to do it for there are really no options." Imagine a teacher hearing this through a walkie-talkie from a coach standing behind the class. This happens while a teacher is being trained on a "no-nonsense nurturing" from the Center for Transformative Teacher Training . The center takes special note on their website that " Research studies indicate that our unique training methodology enables teachers to increase on task behavior by at least 55% ". It is true that one must pay attention to outcomes. However, reaching a goal is not the only thing. In education, how one reaches that goal also matters. With a myriad of factors that can influence learning outcomes, it is possible that children could still learn not because of what we do, but in spite of what we have done. NPR recently had a piece on "non-nonsense nurturing". It came with a cartoon shown below. While the article talked about...

In the previous article, " How to Make a Child Hate Reading ", Alfie Kohn's 2010 article, " How to Create Nonreaders ", is revisited. Kohn enumerates ways by which schools may in fact take away the love for reading from young children. One of those ways is isolation: Isolate them. I’ve been in the same book group for 25 years. We read mostly fiction, both classic and contemporary, at the rate of almost a book a month. I shudder to think how few novels I would have read over that period, and how much less pleasure (and insight) I would have derived from those I did manage to read, without the companionship of my fellow readers. Subscribers to this journal are probably familiar with literature circles and other ways of helping students to create a community of readers. You’d want to avoid such innovations – and have kids read (and write) mostly on their own -- if your goal were to cause them to lose interest in what they’re doing. Mason Crest Elementary ...

When I was an undergraduate student at the Ateneo, the number of chemistry majors is very small that in some upper level courses like physical chemistry, both third and fourth year students attend the same class. The physical chemistry laboratory course was pretty challenging as our professor, Amando Kapauan, simply listed the titles of the experiments we were supposed to perform. The very little guidance provided forced all of us to work together. What the professor could do inside a lecture room is quite limited especially when one objective of the course is for students to learn to become resourceful. Problem solving can surely benefit from a lecturer who could cover a myriad of strategies or approaches, but in the real world, we usually do not have access to an expert who could provide all the right guidance or direction. We usually have to learn from our friends, from our peers. Collaborative learning not only pools everyone's resources but also promote engagement in the le...

We decorate the walls of our bedrooms and offices with posters, paintings and photos. Bare walls look like prison cells. Decorations on walls brighten a room, making it more inviting. The town of Paete, Laguna in the Philippines are known for its artistry. Thus, it would be surprising to find undecorated walls inside the homes in this town. Furthermore, the walls inside the classrooms in this town are likewise highly unlikely to be empty. In fact, when I visited Paete ten years ago, it would be impossible not to notice the paintings on the wall: Even in high school, considerable talent is displayed on the walls. Photo credit (Imelda Avino)

Pictures do speak louder than words. Here are some photographs shared by Ibaba Elementary School, a school in the town of Paete, Laguna, Philippines. These are photos shared with the public in the Facebook page of the school. These are projects made by students in a Grade V class. Project in A.P., Grade V-Rizal

"When pigs start flying" is a phrase that denotes the same as "when hell freezes over". It means something is essentially not going to happen. In the Philippines, the phrase "Pag Puti ng Uwak" (When the crow turns white) is often used. As public schools open, teachers are once again demanding a pay increase. The first day of school is always marked with pictures of shortages in classrooms. When will the demands of public basic education in the Philippines be ever met? I hope it is not when the crow turns white. Problems in Philippine basic education are about needs not being met. Solving these problems require resources. Classroom shortages can only be solved by building enough classrooms. And it is important that these classrooms are built where these are needed. The same goes with learning materials and textbooks. Teacher salaries that can support a family are likewise similar. There is no other solution other than meeting these needs. Realizing that...

In Einstein's Unfinished Symphony , thoughts of a genius while lying on his deathbed were dramatized. In the story, a beautiful mind was attempting to unlock the greatest mind of all. In one exchange, Einstein said, " I am not clever, I am merely curious. I believe that if you keep asking questions then the answers will come. And when the solution is simple, God is answering. " Simple is relative. Things only seem complicated when the problem is not properly understood. Anyone viewing an answer key to a problem from a textbook realizes the approach that is necessary. When the correct solution is laid out in front of us, it is easier to see where one needs to begin to solve the problem. Oftentimes, solutions seem impossible to find when all we do is obfuscate and circumvent. Above photo copied from Albert Einstein Picture Quotes One must not confuse "simple" with "easy". Simplicity becomes evident when the answer clearly addresses the problem. Th...

After rescue and relief, rebuilding comes next. Rebuilding must attempt to mitigate the effects of a typhoon. Otherwise, communities will face the same tragedy when the next typhoon hits. It is also important that the extra measures take into account what these communities really need. The Philippines, with all of its islands, has a significant fraction of its people living in coastal communities. Fishing is a major part of livelihood as well as source of food. It is foolish, for example, to impose "no-build" zones on coast lines. We need to listen to one of the leaders of fishermen in the Philippines, Salvador France: France said about 10 million Filipinos or roughly 10 percent of the country’s population live in coastal areas, the Philippines being an archipelago of 7,101 islands and islets. Declaring coastlines as no-build zones is “stupid,” France said. ( Business Mirror, 27 November 2013 ) One may suggest then to build homes that can resist both strong winds and storm...

One graduate student was so impressed when he sat in the first General Chemistry course that I taught at Georgetown. The lecture was among the first ones early in the morning. There were more than 150 students enrolled and the classroom was noisy while students were finding their seats. Morning greetings and chats about what happened the night before filled the room. While waiting for the scheduled time for the lecture, I was sitting in one of the chairs in the front row. When the moment to begin the lecture arrived, I stood up. At that precise moment, my graduate student could hear a pin drop. I did not have to say a word. All I did was I stood up and the room was quiet.

Working in a classroom for decades teaches a teacher a lot. Every class is different but throughout the years there are indeed characteristics that seem to hold true most of the time. There are certainly variations among different levels of education. There are issues that apply strictly only on graduate courses and research. Obviously, a kindergarten class is vastly different from that of a senior high school. I remember one of my teachers describing students as growing horns as they advance from one level to the next. Characteristics that seem to withstand the test of time seem to be of human nature. Take, for instance, what is referred in the Philippines as "ningas kugon" (flaming cogon grass). This refers to a cultural trait of being so eager at the beginning of a task, but then quickly losing enthusiasm soon after. Another example is procrastination. We do tend to delay things up to the very last minute. In the classrooms, waning enthusiasm and cramming are characteristi...

More than a month ago, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a report on basic education indicators among its members and other countries. To read the entire report, please visit http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/education-at-a-glance-2013_eag-2013-en

"Let us move on to education. Our goal is to raise the quality of learning that our children undertake, so that once they finish their schooling, they can seize the opportunities now opening up in society: accomplished. We have finally erased the backlog we inherited in books and chairs, and if Secretary Armin Luistro continues to demonstrate true grit, even the backlog we inherited in classrooms will also be erased this year. And there is even more good news: Now, we also have the ability to prepare for the additional needs that the implementation of the K to 12 program will require." -President Aquino, SONA 2013, English translation, http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/focus/07/22/13/english-version-president-aquinos-sona-2013-full-text On Classrooms: Photo downloaded from Anakbayan Philippines Facebook Page Wala na daw classroom shortage sabi ni Noynoy Aquino sa kanyang SONA. Ganito ba ang ginawa nila para masabi yun? Nilagyan ng mga divider ang basketball court at tina...

Pictures do speak louder than words. Here are some photographs shared by Ibaba Elementary School, a school in the town of Paete, Laguna, Philippines. These are photos shared with the public in the Facebook page of the school. Captions are from the original posts. Pagpapadighay, pagpapaligo at pagbibihis sa sanggol...

The following photos were downloaded from the Facebook page of Ibaba Elementary School (Paete, Laguna, Philippines):

When policies and reforms are being drawn by people who do not have as much as a stake as a parent who actually has a child enrolled in the school, reasonable doubts spring. Dana Goldstein writes in  " Does It Matter When Education Reformers and Activists Send Their Own Kids to Private School? ":

In evaluating the curriculum for primary schools, it is important to examine what children are in fact doing inside the school. That is why it is useful to look at a child's schedule of classes. This goes far beyond the sound bites we hear from education policy makers or reformers. The class schedule showing the time allotment for each subject is highly informative, providing a dimension one does not see by simply browsing through a list of content standards or a curriculum.  From " Recess as a Favorite Subject May Sound Funny, But Seriously, It Is Important ":  With the oral fluency in English added in the second half of the year, the total instructional time per day is 240 minutes or 4 hours. This information can then be combined with the following schedule found in schools that employ triple shifts: It's shortly after dawn, but the youngest pupils in overcrowded Ilugin Elementary School in Pasig City are already in class. Ilugin's grade one students ar...