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Cordillera teachers’ training slated

BAGUIO CITY (May 19) — The Educators’ Forum for Development (EfD) and the University of the Philippines’ Pahinungod Extension Program and the Paaralang Theresa Magbanua para sa mga Guro (PTMG) will sponsor a capacity-building training for Cordillera teachers here from May 23 to 27 in a series of inputs and workshops.

The Philippine educational situation, the regional educational situation, and the roots of the country’s educational crisis will be discussed during the training. Focusing on teachers’ individual situations, topics will include inputs on teachers as indigenous peoples and as women. To boost teachers’ competence as educators and facilitators of the learning process, inputs on the teacher’s role in social transformation and culture as a tool of liberation, including the principles of learning will also be discussed.

In a statement, the EfD said that inputs will provide an “initial framework for teachers in understanding Philippine society and their role as catalysts for change”.

The first of its kind, according to EfD-Metro Baguio Coordinator Cynthia Dacanay, this event will serve as the take-off point for similar trainings in the future. Dacanay said succeeding trainings would target, for instance, skills enhancement on methods of teaching.

This training attempts to complement the Department of Education’s (DepEd) teacher’s training, since it also aims to uplift academic standards in the country.

Indispensable

The EfD affirmed that teachers play a crucial role in realizing quality education since they are “the most influential medium in shaping intellect and thought processes of their students”.

Ample budget allocation to the education sector will substantially improve the deteriorating state of Philippine education, but its reorientation also counts, EfD stresses.

A survey conducted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) reveals that the Philippines is one of the lowest achievers in Math and Science in Asia, while the High School Readiness Test (HSRT) which gauges Grade 6 students’ preparedness for highschool yielded a very low 10% passing rate.

Erroneous textbooks, too, have to do with students’ unsatisfactory performance. The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported on some factual errors in some school textbooks late last year.

Education’s reorientation should respond to the needs and aspirations of the majority of the Filipino people, especially society’s marginalized sectors”, the EfD statement reads.

With teachers knowledgeable of the people’s issues and developments in society, EfD said, they would be able to contextualize their lessons, instill proper value systems, and develop critical thinking among students.

“We hope that the discussions will be useful to teachers, that these will be integrated in their lesson plans”, Dacanay said.

The five-day training also includes a brief integration program in different communities for the teachers. These integration experiences will be processed before the training ends. Teaching demonstrations will also take place after the workshop-discussion on learning principles.

Graduation ceremonies will cap the training on May 27, where DepEd-CAR Director Remedios K. Taguba will serve as the guest speaker. # ATB for NORDIS

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