Rey Anthony H. Chiu
BOHOL, June 19 (PIA)-- USAID Mission Director for the
Philippines and the Pacific Islands as well Senior Adviser, program and project
development officer for the largest donor agency to the
Philippines director Gloria Steele and senior adviser John Spears handed
for the American People, its commitment of support to the Philippines and its
basic education with the instructional and learning materials, at the Cogon
Elementary School.
The teaching materials and school aids are part of the Basa
Pilipinas, a flagship basic education project of the USAID in support of the
country's early grades reading program.
Implemented in collaboration with the Department of Education
(DepEd), Basa Pilipinas aims to improve the reading skills for at least one
million early grade students in Filipino, English and selected mother tongues,
DepED sources explained.
It (Basa Pilipinas) hopes to achieve this by improving reading
instruction, reading delivery systems, and access to quality reading materials
and managing a teacher training program to maximize on the learning impacts,
DepED said.
Started in January 2013 and would soon be bowing out after four
years (2013-2016), Basa Pilipinas has aimed to significantly improve education
in the country even as it implements the K12 educational reform, according to
USAID website.
In its first year of implementation, Basa Pilipinas focused its
activities in two DepEd divisions in the provinces of La Union and Cebu, and
when it had pooled master trainers for grade school teachers, it spread to
Bohol.
In the last quarter of 2013, USAID country director Gloria Steele
and then newly installed Ambassador Philip Goldberg handed the teaching and
learning materials for Maribojoc, in coordination with another USAid project
Synergeia.
Basa Pilipinas also provides technical assistance to DepEd in the
development of valid and reliable early grade reading standards. The project
increases advocacy for early grade reading at the national level by
coordinating efforts with private sector partners and developing a unified plan
for a national reading campaign.
In close coordination with DepEd, Basa Pilipinas provides teaching
and learning resource materials and secures formal partnership commitments from
Brothers Brother Foundation, Petron Foundation and National Bookstore
Foundation in the acquisition and distribution of reading materials in project
sites.
This turnover highlights USAID’s commitment to assisting the
Department of Education in their efforts to improve the reading skills of
Filipino children, Capitol, in its invitation to media, said.
(mbcn/rahc/PIA7-Bohol)
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