By Victoria “NIKE” De Dios
Apart from the businesses, children’s education is the one that is also greatly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Not to mention that the lives of everyone we know were disrupted and has caused anxiety as health and safety concerns coupled with economic and income uncertainties.
With more than one and a half years of no face-to-face classes, this is also another challenge for work-from-home parents and their children in managing their time. For parents, the issue of assisting their children to optimize learning in the comfort of their homes is a daunting task as they need to juggle their parental duty and work especially to those who are living outside the National Capital Region.
Through its ABC+: Advancing Basic Education in the Philippines Project, USAID worked together with DepEd to improve reading and literacy, math, and social and emotional skills for early grade children (K-3) in Regions V (Bicol) and Region VI (Western Visayas). USAID also worked in coordination with the Bangsamoro Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education for activities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
“By working together, we have supported DepEd in implementing innovative strategies to improve early grade literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional learning. Through ABC+ we will work together to reach up to two million students in Regions V, VI and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” said Sean Callahan, Acting Mission Director of USAID Philippines.
USAID’s support includes interventions to improve early grade instruction and delivery systems, access to quality materials, and education system capacity. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, USAID has supported the implementation of DepEd’s Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan at the early grade level.
To date, the USAID-DepEd partnership has produced and distributed nearly four million supplementary reading materials to more than 250,000 students; trained over 10,000 teachers, supervisors and school administrators; developed and adapted nearly 500 leveled readers in several mother tongue languages and in English; and produced 64 television-based and radio-based instructional materials.
DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones, in her remarks, said that “ABC+ is an example of the many initiatives that made schoolyear 2020 and 2021 possible. A collaboration with USAID, this partnership covering Regions V and VI and a division of Maguindanao focuses on improving reading and literacy of math and social and emotional skills for early grade children…. today we will witness a glimpse of the success of this partnership that has helped us achieve what we were able to do during the past year.”
“The efforts and innovative practices brought to us by this partnership will be taken forward in this incoming school year. We need to embrace innovation, we need to engage with partners and USAID is a shining example, and stakeholders to collectively develop innovative solutions that will help us overcome challenges.”
Meanwhile, Department of Education representatives noted that while the content seems to be focused on academics, they pointed out that they also integrate into the curriculum the character building and values formation which makes the entire curriculum being cascaded to the learners holistic.
As for the continued partnership of USAID and DepEd, they are also assisting teachers in project sites to develop appropriate remedial measures to address gaps in reading skills. As a result, children gain the ability to progress towards their actual grade level or become “reading ready” during the school year.
To streamline the training and professional development of teachers, the partnership also developed the NEAP Professional Development Information System that enables teachers to participate in training programs, take pre-and post-tests, complete evaluations and receive their certificates online.
The ABC+ project will continue for three more years and aims to benefit two million early grade learners in its focus areas. The project is a partnership of USAID and DepEd, implemented by RTI International, in collaboration with The Asia Foundation, SIL Lead and Florida State University.