MetroBank Foundation launches 2011 Search for Outstanding Teachers
CEBU CITY,Jan. 21 – The Metrobank Foundation, Inc. (MFI) in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has launched the 2011 Search for Outstanding Teachers.
On its 27th year, the Search is open to all elementary, secondary and higher education teachers with a 10-year minimum teaching experience. Schools in the secondary and higher education categories are entitled to only one nomination per level, to be nominated by the school head or principal.
Elementary schools on the other hand, can nominate two; one for the primary and one for the intermediate level.
This year, 10 outstanding educators will be chosen highlighting their commitment and contributions in improving the quality of education in the country and serving as role models of excellence to their students.
Three criteria will determine the selection of the winners which are personal qualities and character; instructional competence and teaching effectiveness; and professional and community involvement.
Awardees will receive each a cash prize of P350,000 which has been increased from last year’s P300,000 and a specially-designed trophy and medal to be awarded by no less than President Benigno S. Aquino III. The school they represent will receive a plaque of recognition.
National and regional finalists meanwhile, will not go home empty-handed with P20,000 each for the national level and P10,000 for the regional winners plus a certificate of recognition.
Since 1985, the MFI has already awarded 296 teachers. In Central Visayas including Cebu, 11 teachers have already been awarded.
Official nomination forms, guidelines and brochures are available in all Metrobank branches, Dep Ed and CHED regional and division offices nationwide.
Deadline for submission of nomination forms will be on February 14, 2011. (PIA-Cebu/Fayette C. Riñen)
Application for 2011-2012 DOST undergraduate scholarship program now open
By Neil D. Lopido
Tacloban City (September 1) — The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Regional Office 8 is now accepting application for the DOST Undergraduate Scholarships for school year 2011-2012.
Director Esperancilla informed that there are two program categories where students may apply for scholarship wherein the deadline for filing of application is on October 8, 2010 and the examination will be on November 15, 2010 in designated test centers in each of the provinces of Region 8.
According to Esperancilla, RA 7689 scholarship, otherwise known as the S&T Scholarship Act of 1994, provides scholarships to talented students whose family’s socio-economic status does not exceed the set values of certain indicators as approved by the Advisory Committee on S&T Scholarships while the DOST-SEI Merit Scholarships is awarded to deserving students whose socio-economic status exceed the said indicators.
Esperancilla further informed that application forms and information brochures can be downloaded at http://www.region8.dost.gov.ph or it can be secured and filed in any of the DOST provincial offices as follows: PSTC-Leyte, Government Center, Candahug, Palo, Leyte; PSTC-Biliran, NSU Campus, Naval, Biliran; PSTC-Southern Leyte, Capitol Site, Maasin City; PSTC-Samar, SSU Compound, Catbalogan, Samar; PSRC-Eastern Samar, ESSU Compound, Borongan, Eastern Samar; and PSTC-Northern Samar, UEP Compound, Catarman, Northern Samar.
For more information, you may visit DOST Regional Office 8 located at the Government Center, Candahug, Palo, Leyte or you may call at telephone number (053) 323-7111 and look for Florentino L. Quiñones, Jr. or Ms. Ma. Divina Gracia L. Advincula. (PIA-8/DOST-8)
PMA to hold entrance exam on August 29
By Rachelle M. Nessia
Dumaguete City (3 August) — The Philippine Military Academy (PMA) will conduct its Entrance Examination for PMA Cadetship on August 29, 2010 in 35 examination centers nationwide.
In Dumaguete City, the designated examination center is Silliman University.
Basic requirements for applicants are the following: natural born Filipino citizen of good moral character; single and never been married; 5?4? in height if male and 5?2? if female; 17 to 21 years old (not a day older than 22 years old and not a day younger than 17 years old on April 1, 2011 or born on or after April 1, 1989 and on or before April 1, 1994); at least a high school graduate with a general average of 85% or higher; for 4th year high school students, 3rd year general average of 85% or higher; and physically fit for cadet training.
Application forms are available in all AFP units nationwide.
Interested applicants may also download application forms or apply online on the PMA website (www.pma.ph). For more information, write: Office of Cadet Admission, Philippine Military Academy, Fort del Pilar, Baguio City or call (074) 446-8002 or 0918-587-2384 or 0927-381-0493 or email: oca@pma.ph. (PIA)
PIA invites Aklan schools to attend journalism seminar-workshop
by Venus G. Villanueva
Kalibo, Aklan (16 July) — The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Regional Office 6 is inviting incoming campus paper writers and advisers from Aklan’s colleges and high schools to attend this year’s Campus Journalism Seminar and Workshop, preferably those who have not attended any of the agency’s seminars before.
The seminar for college campus paper writers from all over Western Visayas schools will be held July 28-30 while high school participants from Iloilo City, Iloilo Province, Guimaras and Aklan will have theirs on August 9-11.
Venue of the seminar-workshop is the Iloilo Grand Hotel, Iznart Street, Iloilo City.
PIA 6 Regional Director Atty. Ma. Janet C. Mesa said that sessions for college participants will have added modules on On-Line Journalism and Blogging, a joint activity with SMART Communications, and an overview of the Wall Newspaper, in keeping with the focus on on development communication.
For high school participants, sessions will have added module on Community Newsletter.
A registration fee of P1,400.00 will be charged per participant to cover 1 lunch and 2 snacks for 3 days.
Every year, PIA 6 is conducting this type of seminar to equip campus paper writers and advisers with basic skills and knowledge in journalistic writing in its broader as well as specific aspects: news, feature and opinion articles.
The seminar also aims to equip them with basic knowledge in the practice of photojournalism and those related with journalistic skills, like copy editing, headlining, and page designing.
For this year, college participants will be taught to practice on-line journalism including blogging and photo-blogging through the SMART Com journ.ph platform so PIA is advising them to bring a laptop per publication.
In Aklan, letters had been sent to various schools in the province inviting them to attend the seminar-workshop. (PIA)
Book drive for child laborers to be launched
Iloilo City (13 July) — A book drive dubbed “Libro Mo, Buasdamlag Ko” aimed to gather books for use of child laborers will be launched in Iloilo City on July 17 at the Robinson’s Activity center, 2:30 in the afternoon.
The book drive is one of the interventions under the Catch-up program of ABK2 Initiative in celebration of the World Day Against Child Labor.
ABK2 Initiative Project Director Daphne Culanag said the books gathered will be distributed to the different Learning centers of their partner communities, to be used for simple tutorial or story telling sessions, or reading sessions.
The ceremonial turn-over of books for Iloilo will be done by Gina Agnes Espinosa, President of Iloilo Cultural Research Foundation and Dr. Minda Formacion, Chancellor, UP in the Visayas.
The opening remarks will be given by ABK2 Initiative Project Director Daphne G. Culanag, while DepEd 6 Director Mildred Garay, DSWD 6 Director Minda Brigoli and DOLE 6 Director Crispin Dannug, Jr. will present their commitments for the project.
ABK2 Initiative Project manager for World Vision will give the closing remarks.
The ABK2 Initiative (Pag-Aral ng Bata sa Kinabukasan) is a four-year project which seeks to sustain reduction of exploitative child labor in the Philippines, in cooperation with Child fund Philippines, ERDA and World Vision. (PIA6/ESS)
School sanitation sparks ‘Bayanihan’ spirit in small village
By Rachelle M. Nessia
Dumaguete City (13 July) — Elementary school teacher Sheila Estonilo picks up a piece of chalk and prepares to write on the blackboard in her classroom when a gangly hand goes up near the back of the room. “Ma’am, may I go out, Ma’am?” a small voice belonging to a skinny boy pipes up.
Sheila turns around and nods her head. As the boy rushes out of the classroom, Sheila sighs, knowing that it will take some time before the boy comes back to class, as has always been the case when her students ask to be excused to go out of the room to answer the call of nature.
Salag Elementary School, which stands along the highway of the sprawling Siaton town in Negros Oriental, a province in the Central Visayas islands of the Philippines, has long had a problem with a lack of adequate toilets. The school only had two comfort rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls, which are not enough to accommodate a student population of more than 100.
As the waiting line outside the comfort rooms grow, most (those who could not hold it anymore) run to nature – the nearest bushes – to literally, answer the call of nature.
Teacher Sheila says this is why students take a long time to get back to class. Once they step outside the classroom to do their business, the students tend to loiter around and dilly-dally long after they’re done doing their business. “We have no control of where they will go after they ask to leave the classroom. The students often take their time before coming back to the classroom, missing out on a lot of the day’s lesson,” she said.
But things changed when Unicef stepped in to address the school’s problem. Teacher Sheila still remembers the day when officials from Unicef came to their school to deliver free goods as well as the good news. “They gave us books and notepads for the students and told us that they will give us comfort rooms. We were so happy when we heard that,” she recalled.
After the dust settled from months of construction work, year 2009 saw all seven classrooms in Salag Elementary School each outfitted with brand new and sparkling white toilets. Because of this, Salag’s students not only learned proper sanitation and hygiene but also improved their participation in their classes.
“Now the students don’t need to step out of their classrooms when they have to go to the toilet. Loitering students during class hours is no longer a problem,” Principal Millard Merced happily said, as he pointed out how helpful the toilets have been to their school.
The provision of toilets is one of the many projects carried out by Unicef in elementary schools belonging to disparity villages in the province to promote school sanitation and hygiene. One of the requirements cited in Unicef’s Child-Friendly School System is for the school to be “healthy” with adequate sanitation and toilet facilities. To date, six elementary schools in disparity villages across the province are now enjoying the sanitation, and privacy, provided by clean comfort rooms courtesy of Unicef which supplied the toilet facilities. The local government units, in return, shouldered the cost of construction.
But it was not a happy ending yet at this point for Salag Elementary School. After the toilets were completed, the school faced another problem: water has long been and continues to be a dilemma for the school and the entire village. “Now that we have the toilets from Unicef, we have to deal with the problem of lack of water. We don’t have a water supply coming in from the main line,” lamented Principal Millard.
Although the village has a water source, the supply is not sufficient to address the water needs of the village residents. But this did not stop Principal Millard who was determined not to let the toilets go to waste. So he called for a meeting with the teachers and together they came up with an idea to solve the lack of water in the toilets. However, the solution they thought of can only be done with the support from the parents of the students.
So in the next Parent-Teacher Homeroom meeting, Principal Millard presented the solution before the parents- for each parent to contribute money for the purchase of containers of water in each toilet every school day. The principal was not sure if he could convince the parents. With Salag tagged as a disparity area, life in the village is hard and water is scarce and expensive.
But to the principal’s surprise, the parents readily said yes. Now, with the parents chipping in the funds, each classroom’s toilet has up to five gallons of water, enough to address the sanitation needs of around 60 students in each class. All this made possible by the bayanihan spirit among the Salag villagers. Bayanihan is a Filipino term referring to a spirit of communal unity or effort to attain a particular objective. In this case, the objective was to make sure that Unicef’s efforts are not wasted and the students in Salag get to use to the fullest the sanitation facilities provided for them.
Principal Millard is glad to see how the community has gotten involved in addressing the water problem in the school. “This would not have been possible had Unicef not provided the toilets. I don’t think the parents would have agreed to shelling out the money that quickly. They were inspired by what Unicef has done for the school,” he said with a smile on his face. (PIA)
DOST One Visayas stages invention contest, exhibits
Tacloban City (July 12) — The Department of Science and Technology Visayas cluster composed of Regions 6, 7 and 8, is set to stage the 2010 Visayas Island Invention Contests and Exhibits on August 12 to 14, 2010 at Amigo Mall in Iloilo City.
DOST Region 8 Director Edgar Esperancilla informed that this year’s theme is “Filipino Inventions and Innovations: the Way Forward.”
The 2010 VIICE is a competition open for both the public and private sector inventors and researchers within the Visayas area. There are six (6) categories where talented Filipinos can compete in the invention contest.
The six categories include the Invention Category (Tuklas Award); Utility Model Category; Industrial Design Category; Creative Research Category (Likha Award); Student Creative Research Category (Sibol Award) for High School; and Student Creative Research Category (Sibol Award) for College.
Director Esperancilla disclosed that the Visayas Island Invention Contests and Exhibits (VIICE) serve as the elimination or qualifying round for the National Invention Contest, pursuant to Section 4 of the Republic Act No. 7459 also known as “Inventors and Invention Incentives Act of the Philippines”.
The good Director is inviting investors and researchers in Region 8 to submit entries for the said contest.
“This is time to showcase your inventions and compete with other inventors from the other Regions in the Visayas,” Director Esperancilla said.
The Inventions guidelines may be downloaded at DOST 8 website at www. region8.dost.gov.ph. The entry forms may also be downloaded from the same website. (PIA 
Indigenous people receive school supplies in Negros Occidental
Bacolod City (22 June) — The Operation Tulong Task Force of Aksyon Radyo officially turned over five (5) boxes of school supplies to the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) in line with its back to school campaign dubbed as “Balik Eskwela sang Akyon Radyo-Bacolod.
Aside from school supplies, the task force also turned over donated books, used school uniforms for the Aetas/Negros.
Melodina Cardinal, NCIP staff said they are very grateful for the help extended to the indigenous people in the province adding that they seldom receive donations like school supplies and school uniforms.
Gary Consing, tribu Ata tribal leader expressed his gratitude to radio station and all its donors during the simple turnover ceremony, recently.
Consing said that the donation is a timely response to the needs of their children who just went back to school, adding that this is the first time that they were made the recipient of a project from a local radio station. (PIA/cad)
DepEd bans students in malls, internet cafes, cinemas during class hours
Tacloban City (June 23) — The Department of Education is now prohibiting all students of public and private elementary and secondary schools from going to computer shops, malls, theaters, and other similar establishment during class hours.
Through DepEd Order No. 86 series of 2010 issued on June 18, 2010, Education Secretary Mona Valisno directed all school officials and employees concerned to institute and implement the necessary mechanism on the school discipline applicable under the situation.
Secretary Valisno said the school officials should monitor closely those students who are absent or cut class often. DepEd is aware of the prevailing situation that there are students in the elementary and secondary levels from public and private schools who go to computer shops, malls, theaters, and the likes during their class hours while in their school uniforms.
To carry out the ban effectively, Education Secretary Mona Valisno directed said school officials and teachers concerned to communicate and coordinate with their respective local government officials so that both parties could work on a possible enactment or implementation of the appropriate legislation to implement this. These legislations may be in the form of regulating the distance of computer shops, malls, theaters and the likes from schools, she added.
The directive may also be sent to the owners of these establishments not to allow entry of students during their respective class hours. The LGUs can ask the owners of these shops and malls to check first the class schedules of the student trying to enter the establishment, Secretary Valisno said.
Secretary Valisno said schools should accordingly provide their students with certified copies of their respective class schedules.
The Education Secretary also urged the school officials and teachers to provide their students with worthwhile and productive activities, particularly those that can enhance the creative and communicative skills such as debate or their creative skills such as dramatic activities and theatrical programs, which can be done during the free time of the students in school. (PIA
Elementary pupils get free meals in Barangay Hinakpan
By Jennifer Catan-Tilos
Dumaguete City (15 October) — A free meal feeding is set for 400 elementary pupils and parents on October 20 in Barangay Hinakpan, Guihulngan.
The one-time meal feeding for Hinakpan serves as one of the initiatives and efforts of the provincial government of Negros Oriental together with the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) as part of the intervention to fight against hunger.
Based on the nutritional status of the school children in the barangay, Project Coordinator of the 6th Country Programme for Children (CPC6), Joy Gongob said the malnutrition is prevalent due to its rocky area and so vegetables and other root crops can hardly grow.
The Provincial Technical Working Group (PTWG) of CPC6 will give milk and prepare meals using available indigenous food materials that will provide at least one-third (1/3) of the recommended daily energy and nutrients intake for children.
Joining this year’s Stand Up and Take Action (SUTA) against poverty campaign and Children’s Month, Gongob said serving meals for free hopefully eases hunger to school children in the barangay.
Also with the creation of the Provincial Anti-Hunger Task Force under executive order no. 09-02, the different government agencies concern is urged to submit each anti-hunger mitigation program to the Governor’s Office for the consolidation and formulation of one provincial anti-hunger mitigation plan.
This is to facilitate and convergence of services and resources to widen reach among the poor and hunger households in the low-income municipalities in the province.
For the Stand Up campaign, it is set on Oct 16, 17 and 18 as its global mobilization of people to demand world leaders to deliver on their promise to end poverty by 2015.
For the fourth year in a row, millions of people around the world will Stand Up and Take Action to show their support for the fight against poverty and for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). (PIA/JCT) [
