Educating for Conviviality in Basic Education: The Philippine Context

Abstract

Three major provisions of the present Philippine Constitution (1987) highlight Filipinos' high aspiration and priority for education. First, it is concretely enunciated in Art. XIV Section 5, "The state shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education"; then in Section 1, "The state shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all." Third, Section 3 lists down the objectives of schools as "to inculcate patriotism and nationalism, foster love for humanity, respect for human rights, duties of citizenship, strengthen ethical and spiritual values, develop moral character and personal discipline, encourage critical and creative thinking, broaden scientific and technological knowledge, and promote vocational efficiency." Comparably, Education for conviviality is implicit in Art. II Declaration of Principles and State Policies Section 2 which states that, "The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and humanity with all nations." Such provisions in the fundamental law serve as the legal bases and guiding principles for the education sector in planning and implementing its program. The Department of Education is the principal agency of the government responsible for education and manpower development. As embodied in Executive Order No. 117, s. 1987, the Department is primarily responsible for formulating, planning, implementing and coordinating the policies, plans, programs and projects in the areas of formal and non-formal education at the elementary and secondary levels, and non-formal. Equally the Department is mandated to supervise all educational institutions, both public and private; and provide for the complete, adequate and integrated system of education relevant to national development goals. At the Central Office of the Department are five service units namely: the Planning Service, Administrative Service, Human Resource Development Service and Technical Service. To assist the Secretary in initiating and formulating policies, standards and programs on curriculum development are the three bureaus: Elementary Education, Secondary Education, Alternative Learning System. Other offices include the Educational Development Project Implementing Task Force (EDPITAF) and the NationalEducatorsAcademyof the Philippines (NEAP). There is a pending legislation in Congress for the trifocalization of the education sector: Department of Basic Education for elementary and secondary education level, Commission of Higher Education (CHED) for colleges and universities and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for vocational-technical education. The Department has 17 Regional Offices: the Ilocos regions (I), the Cagayan Valley Region (II), the Central Luzon Region (III), the Southern Tagalog Region (IV), Bicol Region (V), Western Visayan Region (VI), Central Visayas Region (VII), Western Visayas Region (VIII), Western Mindanao Region (IX), Northern Mindanao Region (X), Southern Mindanao Region (XI), Central Mindanao Region (XII), the Caraga Region, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), the National Capital Region (NCR), and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).