THE Department of Education has expressed support for House Resolution 1805, urging the agency to suspend the regular academic program for eight to 12 weeks to implement an effective learning recovery program that ensures learners attain functional literacy and numeracy.
In Wednesday’s hearing conducted by the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture chaired by Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo, DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Teaching Gina Gonong said upon consultation with internal stakeholders, the DepEd submitted a proposal to the committee following the ABC Plus Model of Literacy and Numeracy Program for the eight-week learning recovery program.
She said the DepEd has prepared a timeline of activities towards implementation of the eight-week learning recovery program.
“The timeline is part of the position paper that we submitted to the committee. So this 2024, we’ll continue consulting with stakeholders. We’ve promised teacher groups that we’ll go back to them when we’ll do the specific designs, (and) trainings for the program. We are also currently doing an inventory and mapping of learning resources on top of the ABC Plus learning resources,” Gonong said.
The following will be the DepEd’s tasks until December next year in line with the learning recovery program implementation, according to Gonong : 1) February, download funds to regional offices and schools division offices to augment their funds for the procurement of printing and delivery of ABC Plus resource packages; 2) March and April, reproduction of the learning resources; 3) April, training of trainors; 4) May, distribution of learning resources to schools by regions and divisions; 5) Third or last week of May, training of teachers at the local level by regional and division trainers; 6) June 16, start of classes. The first two weeks will be devoted to the pre-assessment and grouping of learners based on assessment, to be followed by formative assessments; 7) End of schoolyear, two or three weeks before the examination, the teachers will do post assessments of students.
Meanwhile, Gonong said they have also drawn up a wish list for the implementation of the eight-week learning recovery program, which includes the budget for it.
“We are currently doing focus group discussions in schools so that we can get the sentiments, the inputs of the field so we can refine the policy. When we roll it out, it will be the policy that has been vetted by the field,” she said.
Gonong, in her answer to the question of ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, said DepEd will test all Grades 1 to 3 students using the Comprehensive Reading Literacy Assessment (CRLA) Tool and the Rapid Assessment Tool for Numeracy.
Roman asked if the DepEd is admitting there is a problem on the reading comprehension and basic mathematics of learners. “Is that something the DepEd can admit? What is our basis for saying that?,” he said.
Gonong said their basis currently are the results of the CRLA for reading and the RMA for math. “Mayroon po tayong end of school year assessment na nangyari, Meron din po tayong beginning of school year assessment,” she said.
Gonong said aside from the eight-week learning recovery program, another intervention program that they are working on is called “Nasa Pagbasa at Pag Kwenta ang Pag-Asa.”
“We all agree the eight-week program needs to be continued. I mean there are students in the eight-week program that would need further support. So that means after the eight-week program, some students may need support all year round. That is what we are going to do with “Nasa Pagbasa at Pagkwenta ang Pag-Asa,” she said.
In HR 1805, Romulo and co-author former Negros Occidental Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Benitez, now Technical Education and Skills Developnent Authority (TESDA) director general general, cited a World Bank study showed that 9 out of 10 Filipino children aged 10 are unable to read and understand a simple text appropriate for their age while the learning gap is estimated at 5.5 years.
The authors also stated that the current National Learning Recovery Program and Catch-Up Fridays continuously fail to achieve their objectives in reaching those learners requiring interventions, as participation is neither mandatory nor graded, and Catch-Up Fridays lacks a structured and organized instructional and learning plan.
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