Sara to present Basic Education Report

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte will present her term’s agenda for the education sector and the challenges it faces during her Basic Education Report (BER) set on Jan. 30.

“In this report, we want to present to the general public what really is the current state of basic education,” Department of Education (DepEd) spokesman Michael Poa told reporters in Filipino yesterday.

“After presenting the challenges, the department will also outline its plans and initiatives to resolve these challenges,” he added.

Poa said the report is expected to cover the usual issues related to education, including school facilities, curriculum and literacy.

Earlier, the DepEd said the BER will also include updates on the ongoing review of the K-12 curriculum.

Poa said the review of the Kindergarten to Grade 10 curriculum is already on the finalization stage, with consultations currently being conducted.

“When it comes to Grades 11 to 12, we also already started our review last November. So right now, the review is ongoing,” he added.

Child protection

Meanwhile, Poa said the agency’s child protection hotline has received a total of 78 complaints from November to December.

Many of the complaints they received, he said, were alleged incidents of bullying and these are under verification and investigation.

Poa said he is also requesting for additional data to determine how fast the complaints are resolved.

Last November, it was Duterte who led the launch of the Learner Rights and Protection Office and TeleSafe Contact Center Helpline at the culminating program of the 2022 National Child Protection Month.?She said the helpline will allow them to receive child protection complaints from students through landline, e-mail and messages through the agency’s Facebook page.

Agri, aquaculture and conservation

In a related development, Kabayan party-list Rep. Ron Salo has filed a bill to entice the youth to engage in agriculture, aquaculture and environmental activities by introducing such programs in elementary and high school.

Through House Bill 6769, the proposed Agri-Scouting Act, Salo aims to empower the youth by giving them the chance to learn about agriculture, fisheries, forest and marine conservation and management and ecology.

He said these programs will allow them to “take a proactive stance in environment conservation and climate change resiliency, discover the fundamental concepts of proper food nutrition and be acquainted with modern farming, fisheries and food production methods.”

“It is our aspiration that the learning process would instill in their young minds a sense of wonder that leads to awareness and initiative and a desire to engage in agriculture, fisheries, forest and marine conservation and management and ecology,” he added.

When this happens, he claimed it could contribute to “our collective aspiration of achieving food self-sufficiency.”

Being an agricultural country, he underscored the Philippines should put a “premium in the development of the agricultural sector as it directly affects the economy and the quality of life of its people.”

However, the lawmaker lamented the Philippines has low food productivity despite its abundant natural resources.

“It is quite concerning that low food productivity has now become a national issue,” he said.

Citing the 2020 report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the bill showed the Philippines recorded the highest number of food insecure people in Southeast Asia in 2017 to 2019.

Salo added the findings were recorded even before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our youth have so much potential to address long-standing challenges, especially in food security. This is one of our ways to maximize that potential so they can truly contribute to society in the immediate future and for the generations to come,” he said. – Sheila Crisostomo