Mindanao preschools given learning materials

PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines — The Bureau of Elementary Education of the Department of Education (DepEd) distributed recently close to 200,000 various instructional aids and materials for priority public preschools spread out in Mindanao’s six regions comprising over 50 provincial and city schools divisions.

This was announced by Education Secretary Armin Luistro through DepEd Memorandum No. 116, s. 2011 which was received here recently by the office of Dr. Walter Albos, regional director for Western Mindanao (WM).

The distribution of teaching materials for school year 2011-2012 is in line with DepEd’s new policy directions for the universalization of Kindergarten Education Program (KEP) for all five-year-old children, particularly in the Southern Philippines where KEP is still a virtual unknown endeavor.

Albos said the instructional aids’ distribution in Mindanao is also designed “to provide quality assured kindergarten education services and ultimately improve effectiveness and readiness in preparing the kids for Grade 1 not only for formal school work but also for life.”

The DepEd region 9 director pointed out that Luistro had directed elementary school principals in the country’s second biggest island region to give top priority in the distribution to learning centers offering the Kindergarten Regular Program (KRP) and Kindergarten Volunteer Program (KVP) with classes previously subsidized by the education department.

Luistro further enjoined the kindergarten mentors under the KRP and KVP to maximize the utilization of the various packages of print and non-print teaching materials “to ensure creative, interactive, interesting, meaningful and enjoyable activities in the life of the preschool age children.”

Albos noted that the non-print materials include sets of table blocks, counting frames, lacing beads, picture dominoes, langrams and puzzles to be distributed to trained pre-school teachers handling two classes organized by KRP teachers and classes handled by tutors hired by DepEd under the Service Contracting Scheme.

He said the print materials consist of Readiness Skills Workbooks (RSW) accompanied with Answer Sheets, Standard and Competencies for five-year-old children for teachers handling both KRP and KVP.

Luistro directive allocated 38,000 print and non-print teaching materials for kindergarten mentors each in Central Mindanao (Region 12) and Caraga (Region 13); 29,500 each in Northern Mindanao (Region 10) and Southern Mindanao (Region 11); 26,400 in Western Mindanao or Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9), and 17,600 in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).