Mindanao schools get grants, teachers training
By Rose B. Palacio
Davao City (18 October) -- The United States, through the USAID, provided over P1.5-million to fund the Education Awareness and Support effort (EASE) matching grant program which has benefited 257 public elementary and secondary schools in the Autonomous Region in Mindanao and adjacent conflict-affected areas of Mindanao, including more than 180,000 students.
To equip schoolteachers with a broader range of skills in using new scientific materials, the EASE program and the AusAID-funded Basic Education Assistance to Mindanao (BEAM) program, developed a training workshop on laboratory safety and management.
Some 14 science educators from Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Basilan and some provinces in the Zamboanga peninsula were trained in the basics of handling and identifying assorted science laboratory and in various techniques for helping their students develop critical thinking.
The workshop was designed to increase the knowledge and skills of the science teachers in safety, using different kinds of laboratory apparatus.
Another workshops will be held in Central Mindanao, where 80 percent of the project beneficiaries are located, according to BEAM program consultant Milagros Francisco who conducted the training.
The Aus-AID funded BEAM program has worked closely with EASE to standardize the basic equipment of school science laboratories in accordance with the Department of Education science curriculum. (PIA-XI) [top]
