DepEd, USAID seek private sector support in improving early grade education
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 9:19 a.m.; June 23, 2022)— More than 80 business and industry representatives joined the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Education (DepEd) in a conference last Tuesday to discuss how the private sector could channel support toward early grade education in the Philippines.
The conference, themed “Early Grade Learning is Everyone’s Business,” highlighted the USAID’s ABC+: Advancing Basic Education in the Philippines – a project in partnership with DepEd to address low reading and math skills that trouble students from Kindergarten to Grade 3.
DepEd Undersecretary Tonisito Umali joined representatives from USAID, Microsoft Philippines, Smart Communications, the League of Corporate Foundations, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Philippine Business for Social Progress, and other industry leaders in the event.
"Everyone has a role to play, including the private sector, who has the power to create [a] lasting positive impact in our communities through the advancement of early grade learning," Umali said.
DepEd and USAID also emphasized the importance of their partnership with the private sector along with local government units in helping early-grade students transition to face-to-face classes.
Jennifer Crow, USAID Philippines director of the Regional Office of Acquisition and Assistance, said that "raising good readers in the early years" would involve not just schools but also leaders in the community and other stakeholders.
The ABC+ project is a five-year project launched in July 2019 by the USAID with DepEd to improve the learning outcomes of early grade students. Specifically, it aims to benefit up to two million students in Regions V and VI, as well as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, according to the website of RTI Philippines, the project implementer for USAID.
When DepEd shifted to distance learning at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, DepEd sought USAID’s assistance through the ABC+ project to provide additional teaching and learning resources for early grade students.
In many countries, younger students experienced greater learning losses compared to older students during the pandemic, a joint report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Bank in 2021 found.
The country’s learning poverty – defined by the World Bank as being unable to read and understand a simple text by age ten – worsened from 69.5% in 2019 to more than 85% in 2022, according to another joint report by Unicef, UNESCO and the World Bank in April.
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Education Secretary Leonor Briones said the department is expecting a 100% return to face-to-face classes in the next academic year, 2022-2023. —Intern, Cristina Chi
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