DepEd eyes reforms to improve basic education

Department of Education Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan | CDND Photo/Irene R. Sino Cruz

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Department of Education will be implementing a teachers training program that aims to improve the quality of basic education.

Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan, chief of staff of the DepEd Office of the Secretary, made this disclosure when he spoke at the First Integrated STEM Leaders Summit held Friday, November 22, at the Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa.

According to Malaluan, Education Secretary Leonor Briones would be seeking support from stakeholders for the department’s efforts to improve the  quality of the country’s education system.

“The reform programs she has been instituting since she came into office focus on four core areas,” he said.

These are the review and updating of the curriculum, the continuous improvement of the learning environment for students, multi-stakeholder support and cooperation, and the upskilling and reskilling of our teachers to keep pace with the development.

“The Secretary believes that and I quote her, ‘the battle for quality education will be fought and won in our classrooms, by our teachers,” he told summit participants.

Malaluan noted one of the centerpieces of their reform efforts would be the  transformation of the National Educator’s Academy of the Philippines (NEAP). NEAP, which will be in charge of the in-service professional development of the public school teachers, would make sure that all training programs would be in line with DepEd’s goal.

However, he noted that considering there were close to 62,000 public and private schools in basic education, 27 million K to 12 students and 900 teachers nationwide, the task would be formidable.

Malaluan said NEAP would start implementing the new training standards next year.

This First Integrated STEM Leadership Summit – Asia, co-presented by Unilab Foundation and the US STEM Leadership Alliance, and co-convened by the Department of Education, Department of Science and Technology, and the Department of Trade and Industry, could not have come at a better time, the undersecretary said.

“The STEM Leadership Alliance–Philippines that we anticipate will grow out of this process will most likely also be a key player in the Forum for Quality Basic Education, or Educ(action) Forum, that the Department has just convened,” he added./elb