Building disaster-resilient schools via DLP

MANILA, Philippines - Super Typhoon Yolanda was one of the most disruptive disasters to hit the country this year. While life goes on, it would take some time for lives and routines to normalize.

For schools in calamity areas like the province of Capiz’s Parish School of St. Isidore, classes were suspended for nearly a month to give the students and teachers time to get their bearings. The school also needed major repairs.

 With so much to make up for, it’s a good thing that the school had decided to adopt the innovative teaching framework, Dynamic Learning Program (DLP), the first one in Capiz to do so.

The program is a non-traditional pedagogy which aims to improve STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) learning in the country by promoting independent student learning. It was developed by Ramon Magsaysay awardees and renowned physicists Dr. Christopher Bernido and Dr. M. Victoria Carpio-Bernido for their school, Central Visayan Institute Foundation (CVIF) in Jagna, Bohol.

CVIF-DLP is not a curriculum or a module but a teaching method that is geared toward developing each child to his or her fullest potential. Using the same Department of Education curriculum, it is designed to improve basic education given the country’s multiple socioeconomic and cultural constraints.

Based on their scientific studies, the Bernidos came up with the formula “80 percent student activity + 4 academic days + 0 homework” to significantly improve the academic performance of the student.

“I pushed for the adoption of DLP in our school and I am glad that we did. While we have suspended classes for almost a month following the typhoon, I am confident our students would be able to catch up academically,” said Fr. Randy Guarino, head of the Parish School of St. Isidore. “Performance of the students has significantly improved since we instituted DLP this school year.”

“While some of our activity sheets were lost and misplaced after ‘Yolanda,’ the whole repertoire of DLP is intact. Given the renewed interest of our students in their lessons under DLP, it would not be too hard for them to put in a lot of extra hours and effort in the learning activity sheets to make up for school days lost,” he added.

“We are planning to push DLP as a teaching framework in typhoon-affected areas.  Learning is very important in shaping the minds and future of young people. Adverse conditions like disasters must not hamper in any way the basic right to education,” said Ramon Isberto, head of Smart public affairs.

DLP also proved to be resistant to armed conflicts as was the experience of Claret School of Zamboanga City. Given security concerns due to the recent military standoff, schools in the city, including Claret, were forced to suspend classes for weeks earlier this year.

“Our students continued learning in the safety of their homes, thanks to the DLP learning activity sheets, which were e-mailed to the students and were good for one week’s work,” said Fr. James Castro, Claret School director.

“Parents were asked to supervise their kids and make sure they accomplished the activity sheets per day. Once a week, the students and their teachers would meet for checking,” he added.

“The learning possibilities for students under the DLP framework are limitless. Learning does not have to happen within the confines of the classroom,” said Esther Santos, president of PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF).

DLP is one of the programs supported by Smart and PSF as part of advocacies in education. For more details about this non-traditional yet effective teaching framework, visit www.dlp.ph<http://www.dlp.ph>. Or follow CVIF-DLP on Twitter @CVIFDLP, like on Facebook (www.facebook.com/<http://www.facebook.com/>DynamicLearningProgram) or view on YouTube (CVIF-DLP).