The events include the Palarong Pambansa, the 2024 National Festival of Talents, the National Schools Press Conference (NSPC), the National Learner’s Convergence, the Learning Camp, and the Solidarity Meeting of the Learners’ Rights and Protection Office, all hosted by Cebu. During the opening ceremony of the 2024 National Festival of Talents in Naga City, Duterte emphasized, “This is our support to the local economy of Cebu and to your micro-small and medium enterprises, post-Covid-19 pandemic.”

Duterte explained that the idea of hosting these events in one location came up last year to avoid scattered engagements for teachers, trainers, and coaches, while simultaneously supporting a specific region or province. “That’s why we are happy that we’re here in Cebu for the various activities of the Department of Education,” she added. She also expressed gratitude to the local government of Cebu for its collaboration with the education sector.

Addressing future journalists at the NSPC, Duterte urged campus journalists to uphold the truth in their future media careers. She advised them, “When you write your opinion, never assume anything. Don’t mix your assumption with opinion, those are two different things.” She cautioned the NSPC delegates against defamation, urging them to avoid printing or circulating false information that could harm individuals or organizations.

Duterte expressed optimism about the potential for these campus journalists to achieve recognition not only nationally but also internationally. The 2024 NSPC opening ceremony saw the participation of 3,145 campus journalists from various regions across the country.

The Philippines shares its low ranking with Albania, Uzbekistan, and Morocco, all of which scored similarly. The OECD average for creative thinking is 33, significantly higher than the Philippines’ mean score. Leading countries include Singapore (41), Korea (38), Canada (38), Australia (37), and New Zealand (36).

A stark contrast exists between the highest and lowest performers. Only 3.4% of Filipino students achieved Level 5 proficiency, compared to 30% of Singaporean students. Additionally, no Singaporean students scored at the lowest proficiency level, while a third of Filipino students did.

Despite these results, the Philippines exhibited the highest score improvement linked to student curiosity. Students who expressed a strong desire to learn new things scored higher in creative thinking. About 81% of Filipino students agreed they liked learning new things, showcasing a potential area for fostering improvement.

Philippine students also remain among the weakest in math, reading, and science, with no significant improvement since 2018. The Department of Education is expected to address these issues to enhance fundamental competencies and boost students’ confidence, which could, in turn, improve creative thinking skills.

The Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 Series of 2024, signed by DepEd, TESDA, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), mandates the integration of TESDA’s training regulations (TRs) into all SHS strands. These TRs, developed with industry collaboration, align with the National Technical Education and Skills Development Plan 2023-2028 and key employment sectors.

With the integration, each SHS grade level will include at least one TR, allowing learners to earn up to two National Certificates (NCs) by graduation. This ensures students are workforce-ready and employable.

Currently, SHS programs are divided into academic and technical-vocational tracks, with only the latter receiving skills training. Embedding TVET across all tracks addresses the private sector’s concern that the existing 80-hour work immersion for academic track students is insufficient for employment readiness.

Additionally, the new memorandum establishes standardized assessments and certifications for SHS students completing the TVET program. These assessments, provided for free, grant NCs upon successful completion, certifying the students’ skills and competencies. This initiative aims to produce globally competitive, certified professionals ready for the job market.

According to many researches, that the use of online or virtual laboratory has the same or even better effectiveness than traditional laboratory. The use of online or virtual laboratory enhances student’s science process skills, especially in predicting and measuring. This is because online or virtual laboratory is able to provide opportunities and flexibilities for students to conduct experiments by the level of ability and pace of learning each student, anytime and anywhere. Thus, online or virtual laboratory is feasible to be used as an alternative or support method for learning processes.

Signed by Vice President and Education Chief Sara Z. Duterte, DepEd’s order showed that classes for the forthcoming school year will have 203 school days which will formally begin on Aug. 22, 2022 and will end on July 7, 2023. Private schools and state/Iocal universities and colleges (SUCs/LUCs) offering basic education may start classes not earlier than the first Monday of June and not later than the last day of August, as provided for under RA 1 1480. Here, DepEd orders 5 days of in-person classes. However, DepEd also provides for some schools to slowly transition to 5 days in-person classes by having the following options:

• Blended learning modality – 3 days of in-person classes and 2 days of distance learning (modular, online, or television/radio-based instruction); and thereafter, 4 days of in-person classes and 1 day of distance learning (modular, online, or television / radio-based instruction)
• Full Distance Learning – distance learning through modular, online, or television / radio-based instruction.

Then, starting November 2, 2022, all public and private schools should transition to 5 days in-person classes. After the said date, no school shall be allowed to implement purely distance learning or blended learning.

To effectively ensure the start and continuing of in-person classes, DepEd further issues these guidelines:

• No inspections, tools, or any additional requirements to re-open schools and to implement 5 days in-person classes shall be required, except for the compliance with the usual pre-pandemic regulatory permits and licenses, as required by law or ordinances.
• This DepEd Order (DO) shall apply regardless of the COVID-19 alert level that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases or the Department of Health (DOH) may impose in the areas where schools are situated.
• Classes are immediately suspended during observances of regular and special national holidays as stipulated by the law, as well as local holidays which have been duly declared by law or through Presidential Proclamation.
• The number of school days in this DO shall solely be dedicated to academics and related co-curricular activities. The conduct of extra-curricular activities shall be strictly prohibited.
• Virtual activities through different social media platforms which require reactions or sharing may be done for advocacy, awareness, or collaboration purposes, but shall not form part of the learner’s scholastic grade. Curricular and co-curricular activities that involve the in-person gathering of a large number of participants like the National Schools Press Conference, National Science and Technology Fair, National Festival of Talent, and other similar undertakings, may be conducted in hybrid modality subject to the declared alert levels of the country.
• Curricular activities shall be conducted during the academic quarter to ensure that learners can seamlessly connect and integrate learning within and across learning areas while providing manageable breaks consistent with Memorandum OUCI-2O20-3O7 entitled ‘Suggested Measures to Foster Academic Ease during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” On the other hand, co-curricular activities shall be conducted after the quarter examinations to avoid disruption of classes.

Reference:

DepEd Order No. 034, s. 2022