Vietnamese delegation lauds Philippine Pre-School System

 
MB – Tue, Mar 29, 2011

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Pre-School System was lauded by a delegation from the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) recently after visiting the Department of Education (DepEd) to observe best practices in the country's pre-school education for possible adoption in their country.

According to Vice Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thi Nghia, the Vietnamese delegation were thankful for the chance to learn from DepEd officials led by Undersecretary Lino Rivera about how pre-school education is implemented in the country and exchanged experiences on how pre-school education can be further improved.

''We learned a lot on the development of curriculum for pre-school, methodology, content of instruction and teacher qualification and training,'' Nguyen Thi Nghia said.

Currently, Vietnam is implementing its own pre-school program which covers children until age five. It is handled by the MOET which also implements education up to collegiate level.

Aside from visiting selected pre-schools and observing how classes are conducted in the Philippines, the delegation also went to Malaysia for education observation tour.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro welcomed the visit of the delegation saying that ''exchanging best practices among member-countries of ASEAN augurs well for a more vibrant spirit of cooperation in the region.''

Luistro added that more exchange of best practices in education, technology, poverty alleviation, the sciences and skills training among the peoples of South East Asia should be encouraged. ''This is because we share many things in common and are linked by the same heritage and similar experiences,'' he added.

Beginning June this school year, the Philippines is making pre-school education (kindergarten) mandatory in public schools beginning covering five-year-old learners.

''The universal kindergarten is the first step in the bigger education reform program called K+12 which proposes the addition of two more years in basic education,'' Luistro said. ''K+12 aims to produce high school graduates who are ready for employment, primed for college education and prepared to go global,'' he added.

To strengthen kindergarten education in the country, DepEd will also implement an eight-week Kindergarten Summer Program (KSP) in all schools from April 11 to June 3. This aims to universalize quality assured kindergarten education and to ensure that all Grade I entrants shall have developed the necessary learning experiences to prepare them for academic works.

Children qualified to enroll in the KSP shall include those who will be Grade 1 by June 2011. They must be five years old and six months but without preschool experience and children above five years and six months but without preschool experience and have not enrolled in Grade 1.