2019 highlights of events in education (Part II)

By: Dr. Rex Casiple

The latest survey on courses popular to students and in schools in Western Visayas and in almost all regions in the country showed that Agriculture and Fisheries remained in the bottom rank of all disciplines in higher education. This posted a great challenge to our higher education institutions offering agriculture and fishery courses.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has been advocating Agriculture by offering scholarship, grants and loan programs for incoming college freshmen who will major in the said field of study. Integrating Modern Agriculture in the curriculum was commendable to our authorities in agriculture education. Agricultural modernization is the process of transforming the agricultural sector into one that is dynamic, technologically advanced, and competitive, yet centered on human resource development and guided by sound principles.

The end-of-school-year rites was scheduled from April 1, 2019 to April 5, 2019. The graduation theme for the year was “Pagkakaisa sa Pagkakaiba-iba: Kalidad na Edukasyon Para sa Lahat (Unity in Diversity: Quality Education for all).” The theme highlights the role of K to 12 Basic Education Program in developing an educated society where the challenges and benefits of diversity are embraced and welcomed by every Filipino.

The end-of-school-year rites is a graduation ceremony for the second batch of Grade 12 learners who completed the Senior High School (SHS) education. It is a moving up or completion ceremony for Kindergarten learners, Grade 6 and for Grade 10 learners in the secondary level who completed Junior High School. At the tertiary level, the closing of classes for academic year (AY) 2018-2019 was in the last week of March 2019 until the third week of April 2019 or in any schedule as per approved school calendar. At least 46,000 college students in the Region marched for graduation. School authorities were reminded to keep their graduation ceremonies simple and solemn.

In the year 2019, the opening of classes in state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs) started in August. This was to synchronize the said public school’s respective Academic Years (AY) to the Fiscal Year (FY). The change in academic calendar will facilitate easier implementation of RA 10931, otherwise known as the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017, under the cash-based budgeting system being implemented by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Under a cash-based budgeting system, agencies must spend their allocated funds and deliver projects within the year. The move to change the SUCs and LUCs academic calendar year from June to August is consistent with Section 3 of Republic Act No. 7797, otherwise known as “An Act to Lengthen the School Calendar from 200 Days to Not More than 220 Class Days”.

One of the priorities of the government in education in 2019 was internationalization. In internationalization, the Philippine academic calendar should be synchronized with that of the international university partners. On the ASEAN integration, our college students should be ready to engage with students from other ASEAN member states. However, as observed very few of our universities in the country were members of the ASEAN University Network (AUN).

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) released the results of Licensure Examinations for Teachers (LET) in March 2019. Nineteen thousand six hundred fifty-nine (19,659) out of 72,054 or 27.28% passed the LET – Elementary.

Twenty-two thousand two hundred seventy-one (22,271) out of 85,823 or 25.95% passed in the LET-Secondary. The Western Visayas Region performed high in LET – Elementary, or with a passing percentage higher than that of the national average.

Dhaenalene May Quiñones Evangelista of West Visayas State University (WVSU) ranked number 6 in the top ten LET – Elementary successful examinees.

(To be continued)