DSWD and DepEd ECCD framework urgently needs Pagsasarili system to prevent Gr. I dropouts

(Part II of After 9 years .5M poor Pagsasarili preschoolers feel rich)

Eric Africa, currently Lipa City Vice-Mayor and his wife Rowena, a Board Member of the city enrolled their eldest and second child in the Pagsasarili Preschool in Marawoy City Hall. They were delighted to observe their children so organized in fixing their things at home, and being conscious of grooming themselves before going out of the house. They particularly enjoyed setting the table for meals. As an experiment, they enrolled their third child in a private preschool in Lipa. They immediately saw how their third child’s personality was different compared to their older children because he was less refined in movement and needed more encouragement to be diligent with his studies. Having proven that the Pagsasarili Preschool Program develops children’s enthusiasm to learn and to work, they have since enrolled their two succeeding children in the Pagsasarili Preschool. Every chance they get, they tell other parents and communities about their experience with their children. They have not only encouraged others to enrol in the Pagsasarili Preschool, but they have helped sustain the project by providing air conditioning units, school supplies, and other means to support the activities of the schools.

Past experiments of Montessori materials in the public schools

More formal experiments were conducted in 1988 and 1990 to determine how quality primary education not only helps decrease the drop-out rate in public elementary schools but also improves their IQ level. The Zero Grade I Drop-Out experiment was conducted in the Bagong Bayan Elementary School of Dasmariñas, Cavite in 1990. This was fully supported by the Bureau of Elementary Education Region IV Director, Dr. Edith Carpio and Dr. Dinah Mindo of the Cavite Division. Grade I teachers were trained for six weeks to use the Pagsasarili materials in Language, Math and Cultural Arts. Two of them were selected for the experimental group of 70 children who were taught using the Pagsasarili materials for a period of five months. By November of that year, Dr. Mindo and her team’s evaluation of the children revealed that the experimental group performed better in Math, Sibika at Kultura and Pagbasa and Wika than the control group from the central Cavite Elementary School. Likewise, the experimental group had zero drop-out rate, while the control group registered 2.5% drop-out rate. Dr. Mindo then recommended that the Pagsasarili Program for Grade I be adopted in other schools.

Grade I and II students of Hulo Elementary School in Mandaluyong City of similar IQ levels were subjected to the Montessori Math materials for a period of four weeks. Achievement scores of the experimental and control groups showed significant differences in the extent of interest and participation of the children in the experimental group. The experimental group likewise, had more students who scored in the Above Average and Average IQ levels after a month of exposure to the math materials such as the Decimal Golden Beads, Stamp Game and Bead Frames. During the experimental study, the teachers of the school held a strike but surprisingly, all the students in the experimental group had perfect attendance while the control group suffered 15-20% absence.

Rapid assessment of the Pagsasarili Project In Region 4A (2012)

The Rapid Assessment of Pagsasarili Preschool Project in Region 4A by Dr. Ethel Agnes Valenzuela of SEAMEO-Innotech looked into the effect of the impact of the program on the teachers, the students and their parents. The behavioral transformation of the trained teachers, their students and its consequent influence on their parents and communities has been a complete success. The Pagsasarili Preschool Project has been functioning well with the support of the local government units.

Three separate researches have been conducted on the effect of the Pagsasarili Program which all direct government to adapting the system guaranteed to improve the quality of basic education. GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED TO HEED THIS CALL, BEING DERAILED BY SUCH CONCERNS AS FREE PUBLIC EDUCATION, USE OF MOTHER TONGUE AS THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION AND ON MEETING ONLY THE MINIMUM COMPETENCIES OF LEARNERS.

Elevating the poor through literacy

The Pagsasarili Projects of the O. B. Montessori Child Community Foundation Inc. (OBMCCFI) has always been geared towards providing quality education to the marginalized sectors of society. Yet it has set the trend of having a non-doleout character for the past 30 years that has been guaranteed to help sustain the projects all these years. Parents of students who enrol in the Pagsasarili preschools give a minimum monthly participation fee, which is used by the teachers to buy school supplies for the daily tasks inside the classroom, housekeeping supplies to maintain the cleanliness of the classroom, payment for utility services and even the honorarium of the teachers and their aides. In this way, the Pagsasarili preschools can continue to exist even with minimum support from the barangay and the local government. The poor are elevated by giving a sense of order and beauty in their environment and still have access to quality education.

This technology also has to come with a price for the local governments who wants to avail of it. The likes of Governor Vilma Santos-Recto who invests in the training of her day care workers and to upgrade the day care service knows that government funds should go towards sustaining human capacity rather than just concrete structures that advertise their names.

Mother-tongue instruction undermines the preschool child’s absorbent mind

With the K to 12 reform was the declaration to use mother-tongue as the medium of instruction for ECCD and K to 4 programs. This is a crime! Maria Montessori describes the preschool child of having an Absorbent Mind that easily and constantly absorbs impressions in his environment, including language. As the child matures from preschool, grade school to high school, learning another language other than the mother tongue, is effortless during the first stage of birth to six years. Asian countries like Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, including the Philippines, have been struggling to learn English. They found that introducing English to older children in grade school and high school has been frustrating.

Yet our own 30-year experience using English with poor Pagsasarili preschoolers have proven they are able to learn English spontaneously from English speaking teachers. A child is effortless in learning language, whether it is mother tongue or any other language. So using English in the Pagsasarili preschools not only equips them to be globally competitive at an early age but makes use of their absorbent nature to teach them a new language alongside with their mother tongue learned at home.

Inaccuracy of ECCD, R.A. 10410

In March 2013, the Early Years Act was signed into law as Republic Act No. 10410. It is “an act recognizing the age from zero to eight years as the first crucial stage of educational development and strengthening the early childhood care and development system, appropriating funds therefor and for other purposes. Children aged from zero to four years shall be the responsibility of the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Council while children aged five to eight years shall be the responsibility of the Department of Education (DepEd).”

It took 20 years to institutionalize ECCD into the Philippine Educational ladder. In 1987, then DECS Secretary Lourdes Quisumbing began the campaign to do this. She organized nine kindergarten experts known nationally to be the founding members of CONCEP, the National Coordinating Council of Early Childhood Education in the Philippines. All DepEd Secretaries succeeding Dr. Quisumbing were acquainted with CONCEP, fully supporting its effort to institutionalize ECCD except DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro.

ECCD was the priority program of UNESCO then. I represented the Philippines in 1986-1987 in the UNESCO Executive Board. Dr. Quisumbing took over this role from 1988 to 1992, when President Corazon Aquino appointed her Secretary of Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS). I continued working in the National UNESCO Commission as a member of the Education Committee. Dr. Quisumbing, assisted by her deputy BEE Director, Dr. Nita Guerrero called for three national conventions to consult preschool educators and parents updating the criteria for quality preschooling.

By then I co-authored and edited the book “Planning the Young Child’s Education” – a guide for parents, teachers and preschool administrators in 1995 with 165 pages with charts and illustrations. Not since 1965 was such a book written. As the New Millennium 2000 approached, UNESCO upheld the “21st Century Education formulated by 12 education experts of the world.

Under-privileged parents invest more in the Pagsasarili preschools than in free day care centers

Enrolment in the 5 Pagsasarili preschools for 3 to 5 years old around Metro Manila, and Pagsasarili Pilot Preschool (EFA-DAKAR) in Angeles Elementary School, Pampanga has been sustained, slightly affected by including the five-year-old children straight into Grade I.

Bagong Barrio, Caloocan with two classrooms have 115 enrollees, while the Angeles Pagsasarili preschools has 107, Olandes and San Roque, Marikina’s on going enrolment has slowed down to 47 and 55 but still try to target 75 – using one classroom for three sessions. Tramo, Pasay reached targeted enrolment of 75. Each class limited to 25 children per session. West Crame unexpectedly shoot up beyond 75 to 102.

Except for sudden decision to let fives become Grade I, the above enrolment used to increase yearly since parents, by word of mouth, trust that Pagsasarili preschooling guarantees that the children acquire third grade competence before they step into Grade I.

(Next week: 20 Year History of Institutionalizing Preschool)

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