Five youth from Cebu to undergo PCGE screening as ‘Jose P. Rizal Exemplars’on May 20 at PIA-7

by Minerva BC Newman

CEBU CITY, May 18 (PIA) - Five (5) young students from the secondary and tertiary level schools in Cebu qualified as the Central Visayas nominees for “Jose P. Rizal Youth Exemplar” will undergo further screening by the Board of the Philippine Center for Gifted Education (PCGE)  on My 20 at the PIA regional office in Cebu City.

The PCGE initiated the search for Rizal youth exemplars this year.

The nationwide search aims to find 35 children and youth who are willing to commit their lives to the ideals and principles of the country’s national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal in line with the celebration of his 150th birthday on June 19, 2011.

The five youth from Cebu are Leslie Estaniel of the University of Cebu; Mark Cedrick Antonino of the University of San Jose Recoletos; Miko Cabatingan from Abellana NHS; Serge Lorenz Villasica of Mandaue City Science High and Ezekiel Majan of the Cebu City National Science High.

They will join the nominees from other regions that will be interviewed by the PCGE Board as part of the process of the search for the 35 children and youth Rizal exemplars.

The PCGE has sxcheduled the intervies of the Central Visayas nominees on May 20, 2011 at the PIA regional office in Cebu City.

The 35 children and youth finally selected by the PCGE after their interviews will take their oath as ‘exemplars’ of what a complete Filipino youth is as Jose Rizal envisoned them to be.

The oath-taking is scheduled on June 17, 2011 at the CCP Complex in Manila no Less than the Preisdent, Benigno Simeon Aquino III leading the ceremony. 

Taking the oath means that they will commit their lives to emulate Rizal, the national hero, and help elevate Filipino consciousness for a life of integrity, dignity, truth, honesty and love of country and be eager to motivate other Filipinos to do the same.

In response to the request of the PCGE fro regional coordination assistance for the search, the Regional Development Council in Central Visayas through its Secretariat had created a selection committee composed of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA); Department of Education (DepEd); Civil Service Commission (CSC); Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG); Cebu City National Science High School and the Philippine Information Agency (PIA).

The committee was tasked to accept the nominees from the DepEd, CHED, and TESDA, and to screen them; there were only 12 nominees that the RDC-Selection Committee accepted and screened.

They included two (2) children nominees for the elementary age group from St. Alphonsus Catholic School in Lapu-lapu City and Mandaue City School for the Arts.

The six (6) nominees from the secondary level included students from Pianar MNHS in Bogo City; Cebu City National Science High school; Abellana National Science High school; Tipolo National Science High School in Mandaue City and Mandaue City Science High School.

The four (4) nominees from the tertiary level included students from the Cebu Normal University; Cebu Doctors College; UCLM and USJR.

These nominees were rated according to the individual areas of interest and skills represented by Gardner’s multiple intelligences that include linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, social and naturalistic.

They were also rated on how they manifest love of God and country based on individual interviews and essay on what aspect or nature of Rizal can they expound upon that a modern day youth can relate to and is very relevant in the modern times.

The search is also supported by the National Historical Commission, the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts, the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Tanghalang Pilipino as well as the various regional development councils in the country. (PIA-7)

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DepEd-7 prepares for 150T pre-schoolers coming in on June 6
By Eli C. Dalumpines

CEBU CITY, May 17 (PIA) – The Department of Education (DepEd) in Central Visayas is getting ready for the coming in of about 150,099 pre-school children during the opening of classes on June 6.

DepEd-7 Education Supervisor II Clara Rebecca R. Falconi, in a media forum this morning, informed that these are the projected number of pre-school children in the region who are required under the K+12 program to enroll in the kindergarten which is made mandatory before enrolling in the grade school.

Out of this total number, 44,120 are coming from Cebu Province while 8,643 are from Cebu City, she said.

She clarified though that this figure is just based on projection and that there is a possibility that the actual number of pre-schoolers who will enroll in the kindergarten will overshoot their projected volume.

According to Falconi, DepEd will start implementing the K+12 program this school year but she stressed that the focus during the first year of implementation will be on the kindergarten level.

The introduction of the new curriculum for elementary and secondary levels will be done in the following year, 2012-2013, along with the adding of two more years in high school wherein students are going to integrate the learning they acquired in their junior years with technical competencies of their choice, she informed further.

In this connection, Falconi said DepEd has already started hiring new teachers to handle the pre-schoolers and to fill in the shortage of teachers in the different schools in the region.

The Dep Ed-7 official also announced the launching of the “National Schools Maintenance Week,” or 

Brigada Eskwela, on May 23-28 and urged people in the community to join hands in preparing the premises of their schools for the opening of classes.

The official, likewise, reiterated that DepEd still prohibits public schools from asking any fees on children for enrollment. 

Falconi also informed that they are going to organize Oplan Balik Eskwela and will set up information counters at the DepEd lobby on June 1-17 to receive queries from parents on any issue affecting education. (FCR/ECD/PIA 7-Cebu)