ILOILO – The provincial government is all set for the education summit on Wednesday, July 19, at Casa Real de Iloilo.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. said the summit’s highlight would be the presentation of the Bes Probins Program, or Bulig Eskwela sang Probinsya Program, to guests, including the 43 local government units (LGUs), the Department of Education (DepEd), and stakeholders, both in the public and private sectors.
“Gusto gid naton tagaan emphasis ang Bes Probins Program because ara da ang aton career guidance and counseling program, ara da ang voter’s education program together with ang aton programa para sa pagbulig sa aton eskwelahan, and one part of that is watershed,” said Defensor.
The Bes Probins Program aims for an effective, relevant and transformative educational system in the province of Iloilo.
Under the program, the province is crafting career guidance and counseling module in partnership with the DepEd and other stakeholders to teach the National Development Plan and Regional Development Plan to secondary school students to decide what career to pursue.
Bes Probins is also a local implementation of Republic Act No. 11206, or the Career Guidance and Counseling Act, which Defensor authored when he was then congressman of the Iloilo’s 3rd District.
Moreover, Bes Probins also provides support for the infrastructure needs of DepEd through the construction of classroom buildings, teen centers, and covered gyms.
The province also partnered with the University of the Philippines Visayas to craft a voter’s education module to help the youth become effective and intelligent participants in democratic processes.
The education summit also aims to tackle how to address learners’ poor reading proficiency.
Some 141,080 learners — 73 percent of 191,495 learners from Grades 4 to 11 of the school year 2022-2023 — were performing below the average, based on data received by the Schools Division Office of Iloilo on the reading proficiency test conducted by the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI).
The Phil-IRI, an initiative of the Bureau of Learning Delivery of the DepEd, is an informal reading inventory composed of graded passages designed to determine the individual student’s performance in oral reading, silent reading and listening comprehension in both English and Filipino.
These three types of assessments aim to determine the student’s independent, instructional and frustration levels. The data from these measures could be used to design or adjust classroom, small group or individualized instruction to fit the student’s needs and abilities.
Defensor said the provincial government partnered with the non-government organization Synergia, DepEd-Iloilo, and other stakeholders to develop measures to improve the learners’ reading comprehension.
The education summit is a measure of the provincial government under Defensor to achieve its development trust, MorProGRess Iloilo, or the Movement for a Robust, Progressive, Globally Competitive, and Resilient Province of Iloilo./PN
