Relevant and liberating quality education

Gedalyn B. Dela Peña

The Department of Education has been able to achieve delivering accessible, relevant, and liberating quality basic education with various initiatives and collective efforts from the field to promote literacy despite the COVID-pandemic.

The DepEd has highlighted innovative milestones in its literacy, sports, children and employee welfare programs aimed at continuously strengthening the field offices’ overall functions.

The Department’s offices managed to improve, innovate and develop lead projects and practices, which made it possible for the Department of Education to provide the best possible services before and during the pandemic.

These were done through the efforts of DepEd’s field offices, the 16 Regional Offices, and 216 SDOs, officials said.

With the postponement of Palarong Pambansa due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Palarong Pambansa Secretariat has focused on the different initiatives to pursue sports education, especially the development and operationalization of the Palarong Pambansa Continuity Plan.

On the other hand, the establishment of the National Academy of Sports (NAS) further institutionalizes an educational system to implement quality and enhanced secondary education specializing in a sports-centered curriculum.

The DepEd Employees Association Coordinating Office (DEACO) also underscored priority for employee welfare through the creation of an Online Helpdesk, where Department employees, unions, and cooperatives can seek assistance in resolving various relevant matters in response to the health situation.

Through DO No. 3, Series of 2021, Child Protection Unit along with the Child Rights Education Desk were created to further strengthen the Department’s policies and commitments towards child protection.

There are capacity-building efforts and evaluation studies, skills enhancement of the personnel and training them to be more effective in their respective tasks crucial to the implementation of child protection program and policies, officials shared.

The Department has provided legislative support for child rights through the introduction of Senate and House Bills, implementation of laws relative to child protection, and policy development on promoting Child Protection in schools.

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The author is Teacher I at San Roque Elementary School, San Luis District