Quality Education for All

Marilou C. Yumul

Education for All (EFA) and No Child Left Behind has been the battle cry of international and local groups since the 1990s. These sustainable development goals remain a hot topic of concern of countries that put education as one of the main rights of citizens including children. These two mainly promote equal access and quality of education for everyone regardless of anything – sex, belief, ethnicity, socio-economic status, etc.

In the Philippines, the progress towards EFA is being addressed through different programs of the Department of Education. Various modes of delivery of education were created to provide an equitable education to every Filipino learner.

Mobile teaching was formed to cater to learners in a distant place who are having difficulty to go to formal school due to different factors like finance, transportation, health considerations, and location. The Alternative Learning System (ALS) works for the welfare of out-of-school youth who, because of various reasons, are not able to enroll and/or graduate appropriate to their age. In ALS, learners have a flexible schedule that fits the availability of the learners. The curriculum of ALS is drawn from the basic content standards of the curriculum in regular/formal education. After the sessions of classes, the learners will then take the Accreditation and Equivalency (A & E) Test to be able to obtain their elementary or high school diploma depending on the level of examination they will be taking. The diploma is equivalent to those obtained from formal schooling. Some divisions offer other forms of schooling like distance education through e-classroom, ALIVE for Muslim learners, and special education programs for learners with special educational needs.

Now, the DepEd is promoting inclusive education as a response to the EFA objectives. Inclusive education (IE) means that all learners must have access to quality education together with their peers. Although IE is not a new program, it remains to be a hot topic for discussion especially with the inclusive education for learners with special educational needs (LSENs) wherein it stipulates that they should be learning with the typical learners and are not always confined in a self-contained classroom.

The promotion of complete Education for All (EFA) in the country is still working progress yet it is commendable that the Department of Education is taking a step for this paradigm shift. This change might not be easy to accept but if there are leaders who fight for the right of all learners for quality, access, and equality in education, the goals set will be realized.

The author is Teacher

--oOo-

III at Tacasan Elementary School, Macabebe East District,

Division of Pampanga.