Developing an ESD program with community participation

(Part 2 of a series on the ESD Toolkit)

The recent Oslo Conference on Climate Change, where heads of state from all over the world convened, provided the authoritarian impetus from national and regional governments needed to drive policy development that will make Climate Change programs succeed. In the same way, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) must have the support of government policies around the world.

The omission of such an impetus proved to be the downfall of the 1970s global effort to infuse environmental education into the elementary and secondary curriculums. The same fate could befall the ESD effort.

Mindoro Oriental’s public participation in ESD

According to the ESD Toolkit, “Education for Sustainable Development remains an enigma to many governments and schools.” Governments, ministries of education, school districts, and educators need a successful working model. The Pagsasarili Twin Project of the Mothercraft Literacy course is such. In the past 25 years, wherever a Pagsasarili preschool exist, as in the six municipalities of Metro Manila, seven towns of Ifugao Rice Terraces, 23 public preschools of Luzon, and 85 DSWD day care converted Pagsasarili preschools in Batangas supported by Governor Vilma Santos since she was Lipa Mayor. Public officials, the community and the parents have discovered how the Pagsasarili system of education has transformed children as early as the preschool age from timidity to self-confidence and friendliness, from disobedience to obedience; and from laziness to lovers of work.

In the UNESCO ASPNet Seminar Workshop on ESD held in Mindoro Oriental last March 2009 the participants – high school students, teachers, principals, supervisors, and parents – witnessed the transformation of the preschoolers in the DepEd public schools converted to Pagsasarili preschools.

While observing the preschool students at work, the high school students commented that they wished they had the same training in laundering and buttoning: “Buti pa sila, sana may ganito din kami noon.” They claim that their parents get upset that they do not launder properly and they were too slow dressing up. Unknown to them, these 4 to 5-year old children were trained to launder in 13 steps, as well as button and unbutton dressing frames in four steps.

Later, the high school students were allowed to work with the Pagsasarili materials. They were awed with the Puzzle Map of Asia, Geometry tracing insets, Botany and Zoology classified nomenclature cards and the Decimal Golden Beads for counting 1 to 1,000. “Hindi ba ginawa natin ito sa Intermediate Grade School (Did we not do this after Grade IV)?” They were referring to lessons on decimal fractions, not the decimal whole numbers the preschoolers were doing.

MIMAROPA superintendents and supervisors want the ESD curriculum spread

Earlier in the summer break of 2007, a total of 14 Pagsasarili preschool teachers were trained for the public schools of Abra de Ilog, Lazareto, Naujan East and West, and San Teodoro in MIMAROPA. By August, the Pagsasarili teacher trainors visited the school sites and while giving an orientation to the parents, they were also allowed to watch their children at work.

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 (My grandchild speaks English now just like a rich child).” 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 (My daughter is so lady-like. After every class her clothes and hair stay neat).”

Each Pagsasarili classroom has three open shelves, one holds Practical Life dressing frames, pouring sets, hankie folding tray, shoe/metal polishing baskets, etc. The other two have Language, Math and Science materials. Each set is one of a kind so children are conditioned to wait for one’s turn, but there are sufficient alternative materials. At the end of the school year, the fives turned six have acquired third grade competence.

So impressed, both the Calapan superintendent and all her supervisors strongly recommended the conversion of their public preschools to the Pagsasarili system.

A model ESD ‘Pagsasarili Parentcraft Literacy House’

To condition families of laborers, farmers and fishermen to a more sustainable lifestyle, a Parentcraft Literacy School House should exist in each municipality. The old Causwagan community model house in Cebu where medical interns work is an example.

The architectural design provides a balcony to receive guests occasionally dropping in for a few moments. The major room is a long living-dining room. The latter is extended to a kitchen counter for food preparation (banggera). The other end has a small toilet with a separate small bathroom across it. Parallel to this room is the elevated sleeping quarters three steps higher, dividing the parents’ bedroom from the children’s in respect to their privacy.

In our 1984-88 Pagsasarili Mothercraft training of village mothers at 17 sugar plantations in Negros Occidental, we learned to add more practical features.

All wet housekeeping activities take place outside the house for good ventilation. The separate bathroom and toilet (a second set) may be located behind and perpendicular to the house. Alongside the house, the laundry deep sink could be installed over a cemented stand. The cooking stand preferably with three stoves may be placed alongside the washing area separated by the back door.

People’s residences are the essential environment that sustains a healthy, spacious and pleasant life. Here, a chain of activities take place day and night provided each area is well-equipped. Activities of Grooming and Hygiene; systematic Housekeeping; Environmental Care and Gardening; Child Care from infancy to adolescence; Cooking and Nutrition are all convertible to backyard business.

Witnessing the ESD revolution in the Visayas Teacher Training Universities

Last month, Mesdames Beverly Ciencia and Cecile Fortuna, ESD trainors of the OB Montessori Child and Community Foundation, started monitoring and supervising the newly-trained ESD lecturers and laboratory teachers of Leyte Normal University (LNU), St. Paul’s University (Dumaguete), and Philippine Normal University, Cadiz (PNU). This is a UNESCO-sponsored pilot of infusing ESD into the Philippine teacher-training universities by the Philippine Category 2 SEA-CLLSD (Southeast Asian Center for Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development). The process involved the six-week re-training during summer of the traditional teachers using a complete package of ESD materials based on the scientifically-tested Montessori apparata. In-service trainings were made on site: to help orient the parents and the last one in March to conclude the year with the preschoolers presenting all materials to their parents. Here is a parent’s discovery of her “new child” educated in the ESD environment.

Mrs. Segura’s son, Joshua (5.9 years old), used to be very dependent on his yaya to do things for him. Now, he packs up his own toys at home and he can already eat and bathe by himself. One time after eating his meal, his yaya started to clean the table, but Joshua was not satisfied and cleaned it again until he felt it was done properly.

For St. Paul University, we chose as their laboratory preschools three barangays of Valencia, Negros Oriental 10 minutes away from Dumaguete. Mrs. Bonifacia Tundo was a day care worker for five years before she was trained as a Pagsasarili teacher. She observed that before she always had to shout at her students to listen and to look at the visual aids she prepared. Mere visual aids do not provide the children with sufficient activities, unlike the universally-tested Montessori apparata, which keeps all the children busy working, learning faster and do not forget because they work with pleasure and concentration on the materials.

Fertile ground for peace, prosperity, and love for all mankind

The main expense developing ESD programs with community participation are two projects – one for the community and the other for teacher education institutions (TEIs) or universities. The setting up of a Pagsasarili Parentcraft Literacy House is essential for parents and children in each municipality. This will meet the basic goals, which were established at Jomtien and reaffirmed at Dakar to input quality ESD.

After 43 years of the effective use of ESD in formal education and 25 years of implementing the affordable Pagsasarili version for rural and urban disadvantaged families, it should be apparent to DepEd, TESDA, CHED, DSWD, and DILG that instead of searching for curricular models to adapt, it would be better to invest time and resources in duplicating this tried and tested ESD model from preschool to professional high school. This can also provide ESD curriculum for the Asia Pacific region where customs and lifestyles may be harmonized to develop “unity in cultural diversity” and its ESD teacher training facilities.

(Reference: UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit 2006)

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