Reaching the unreached: Quality preschools for Mimaropa
MANILA, Philippines – At the mid-point of the UN Millennium Development Goal 2000-2015, the Department of Education (DepEd) joined the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare & Development) to inject quality Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into preschools, especially to avert dropouts in primary school. The 10-year-old EFA (Education For All) global program was evaluated in 2000, and was observed to increase enrollment in Basic Education, but quality — specifically in Asia, Africa, and Latin America — remained sub-standard. The UNESCO Director General called for an EFA-DAKAR Framework of Action to re-engineer education from mere memorization of data to a transformation of behavior towards self-sufficiency.
Two years ago, DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus funded the conversion of 25 public preschools to Pagsasarili preschools. This DepEd project linked to the Southeast Asian Center for Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development (SEA-CLLSD) a proposal to UNESCO Paris for the Philippine NatCom to be a Category 2 Center championing quality education for self-sufficiency.
The special fund provided by Secretary Lapus helped four DepEd Regional Directors — Dr. L.S Miguel (Region I), Dr. J. Taberdo (R-II), Dr. M. Ramirez (R-III), Dr. G. Garma (IV-A, CALABARZON), and Dr. P. Giron (IV-B, MIMAROPA) — convert selected pilot preschools into Pagsasarili Montessori preschools by commissioning the SEA-CLLSD National Laboratory — the OB Montessori Center, and its OB Montessori Child and Community Foundation. The Foundation is headed by Mrs. Concepcion Suarez.
The Teacher Transformation
The project involved retraining of 50 teachers from April to May 2007, and in-service training onsite by the Pagsasarili teacher-trainers. Each school also received one van-load of Pagsasarili materials.
Full board and lodging for six weeks were provided using dormitories at the OB Montessori Greenhills headquarters. Meals were served at the culinary college Italian restaurant, La Dolce Fontana (RLDF).
The theoretical and practical courses were systematically calendared. Readings and essay writings were drawn from the book The Life and Works of Maria Montessori. Discussions were conducted by 10 lecturers. Simultaneously guided by senior Pagsasarili experts, each trainee had to put together an apparatus book made up of 80 lessons on Practical Life, Sensorial Arts, Cultural Arts, Language and Math. Every day, they were required to be well-groomed from “head to toe.” Classes were warmed up with each one giving a two-minute impromptu Dale Carnegie talk in English.
RLDF manager Isabel Espina remarked after the first two weeks, “What happened to the public school teachers? They look different, much younger, good-looking, and they are now speaking English!”
Hazardous In-Service Training
Eager to implement the Pagsasarili program in their public schools, they returned to their respective sites two weeks before school opening. A strong typhoon was raging when the van-load of Pagsasarili materials, including sample tables and chairs, were loaded on the Super Cat, roro, batil and Super Ferry to reach Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan.
Pagsasarili teacher trainers had to cram the in-service training for seven sites in Mindoro in just 18 days. Trainers Joji Dellosa, Erlinda Leonardo, Mercedita Esgana, and Julia Evelyn dela Cruz took an average of six hours traveling by bus and ferry boat to reach the port of Abra de Ilog (Mindoro Occidental), proceeding to the DepEd Pagsasarili school sites of Abra de Ilog, Mamburao and Paluan. They had to return to Batangas to take the Super Cat to Calapan port (Mindoro Oriental) so they could continue to the DepEd Pagsasarili school sites in Lazareto, Naujan West, Naujan East and San Teodoro.
The trip to Romblon was more hazardous, taking the 12- to 14-hour boat ride in the Montenegro Lines (from Batangas port) or the cargo barge (batil). The latter is a cargo barge where they slept on cots packed tight on the upper deck, while pigs, chickens and goats as well as charcoal and other products were loaded. The trip to Palawan takes 22 hours by Super Ferry from Port area, Manila with another two hours on rough roads to get to the school sites.
‘They do not Feel Poor Anymore. It’s Worth It!’
About 80 to 90 percent of parents attend the orientation at the beginning of classes. A grandmother exclaimed, “Ang aking apo ay nag-iIngles na, parang anak mayaman.” A mother noted, “Parang dalaga na ang aking anak, laging ayos. Kahit pag-uwi niya, hindi gusot ang kanyang damit at ayos ang buhok niya.”
In Naujan West, the students of the traditional preschool flocked to the Pagsasarili classes, so the Division Superintendent merged the two classrooms into one and had the untrained teacher assist the trained teacher.
Photos of the children in the new DepEd Pagsasarili preschools give the impression that they are attending exclusive private schools.
