Smart and PSF roll outinnovative teaching method

MANILA, Philippines - Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF) are helping roll out an innovative teaching method that would give Philippine education a boost and help make Filipino students more globally competitive.

Being staunch advocates for education, Smart and PSF have committed to help 2010 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees and internationally renowned and published theoretical physicists, doctors Christopher and Ma. Victoria Carpio-Bernido, spread the good news about the Dynamic Learning Program (DLP) that was first implemented in the Central Visayan Institute Foundation (CVIF) in Jagna, Bohol.

With the rollout, Smart and PSF are hoping to get more schools to adapt the CVIF-DLP, which is geared towards developing a child to his/her fullest potential despite socioeconomic constraints.

As part of the rollout for the next school year, Smart and PSF would be holding simultaneous half-day orientation seminars from Oct. 22 to 25 in Metro Manila, North and Central Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. This would be followed by one-day writeshops early next year, as well as simultaneous three-day Learning Physics as One Nation (LPON) seminars in April.

A recent international survey showed that per-million population, Japan has over 5,000 scientists and engineers, Singapore has 4,600, Malaysia has over 700, and Vietnam has over 500. The Philippines, meanwhile, has a dismal 160.

This may partly be due to the fact that there are not enough qualified teachers for sciences and mathematics.

First implemented in a high school owned by Dr. Christopher Bernido’s mother, the CVIF-DLP is now being used as a teaching method in public schools in the provinces of Bohol and Basilan as well as the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Lamitan across all subjects, and in over 600 schools for Physics that is meant to address the chronic shortage of teachers proficient in that subject.

This learning method is characterized by activity-based multi-domain learning, parallel classes, in-classroom protocols for sustained/independent learning, and strategic rest.

“CVIF-DLP is not just a fad or a passing fancy. It is based on scientific facts. Every component of DLP lies on very solid ground,” said Dr. Ma. Victoria Carpio-Bernido.

“We are thankful to Smart and PSF because the CVIF-DLP has gone beyond what we dreamed of. From the time we got into high school education, our vision has been global. If we educate a child properly, no matter what part of the country he is from, he could at least be as good as any child in Finland or Germany,” stressed Bernido.

“We are very interested in the DLP as this would address the perennial problem of public schools on the shortage of qualified Physics teachers. It would also help equalize the educational system given the lack of facilities in other areas, particularly those schools in the hinterlands,” said Maria Celia Fernandez, Schools Division Superintendent for Urdaneta City.