U.S. Partners with Knowledge Channel to improve children’s literacy through television and radio

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On March 10, the United States government, RTI International, and the Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc. (KCFI) signed a new partnership to improve the reading skills of kindergarten to grade three students through radio and television-based learning resources.

Starting March 13, KCFI will regularly broadcast existing learning materials co-developed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Advancing Basic Education in the Philippines (ABC+) program implementing partner RTI International, and the Department of Education (DepEd).  These programs were designed to instill genuine love for reading in young children and help them master the four macro literacy skills: listening, reading, speaking, and writing.

This partnership addresses the continuing gaps in education in the Philippines and ensures that children have access to quality education that will build their literacy skills for lifelong learning.  It also supports educational innovations through the creation and promotion of multimedia learning resources for young children.

“We thank KCFI for its interest in our initiative and desire to promote learning and access to education, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalized children,” USAID Philippines Deputy Mission Director Rebekah Eubanks said.  “As your enduring friend, partner, and ally, the U.S. government, through USAID, will continue to forge and strengthen partnerships with the private sector to expand learning opportunities for children so that they can grow up to reach their full potential and contribute to the country’s growth.”

“We are confident that this new partnership between ABC+ and KCFI will not only be beneficial to our respective organizations, but more importantly, to the students, teachers, and communities that we serve,” KCFI President and Executive Director Rina Lopez said.  “By bringing the video lessons to more audiences all over the country, we will be making a meaningful contribution to the efforts of schools, teachers, and parents all over the country who are working hard to enrich the learning of their students and children.”

“It is our fervent hope that this work will encourage practitioners and teachers to be knowledgeable, skillful, and insightful as we all work together to the care and education of young children,” DepEd Finance Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla said.  “The DepEd wholeheartedly believes in this collaboration, and we are all confident that we will contribute to the commitments of our MATATAG Agenda, a whole pro-creation approach which aims to support our learners—Bansang Makabata—to become productive and nation loving Filipinos—Batang Makabansa.”