Editorial
A test for DepEd and LGUs
AS public elementary and secondary schools open on Monday, it signals not just the start of a new academic year but the beginning of major changes in the country’s educational system.
One of these is the implementation of the mother-tongue policy, one of the components of the K to 12 program, wherein the native language in the area will be used as the primary medium of instruction. It’s a novel and largely untested program in the Philippines, an issue long debated by the local educational sector, but one that developed nations and language studies worldwide have proven to be effective – children learn concepts and ideas best in their first language and it prepares them for a better grasp of a second language. The policy bids well too for local languages. Now that Pangasinan (and Ilocano) will be used in the schools, it will not just avert death but have the opportunity to grow. The transition will surely not be difficult for the students, especially if the public educational system is able to provide them with sufficient study materials and skilled teachers. And therein lies the big challenge for the Department of Education (DepEd).
But the DepEd should not be alone in this test. The local government units – provincial, city and municipal – must get involved and help provide more materials, facilities, and funding to hire more teachers and finance their continuing training. The private sector – business and professional groups, the private schools – is also an indispensible partner. They can easily chip in through knowledge-sharing and technological support, particularly the provision of computers in classrooms because these can no longer be viewed as luxury items in today’s education by global standard.
With the K to 12, there is an expected burgeoning population of pupils. Hopefully, it will eventually translate to a new and more learned generation of Filipinos who will contribute to the country’s development.
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Tragic ending
IT began on December 12, 2011, when 188 congressmen voted to impeach Chief Justice Corona. It ended on May 29, 2012, when 20 of our 23 senators found Corona guilty of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.
By omitting in his SALN (Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net worth) his $2.4 million deposits and P80.7 million commingled bank account, Corona was ordered removed from office by the Impeachment Court after 44 days of trial.
Finally, the law has caught one from the high and mighty.
Corona will lose all his benefits, including retirement pay, in the aftermath of this unprecedented saga in our nation’s history. What a tragic ending to the career of a man supposedly so erudite, having been schooled at Ateneo, UST and even Harvard.
May his crumbled façade, or empire if you will, make us all wiser from hereon.
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