PIA Press Release
Sunday, January 29, 2012

DepEd USec inspects school projects in Ifugao

LAMUT, Ifugao, Jan. 29 (PIA) -- The Undersecretary (USEC) for Legal and Legislative Affairs of the Department of Education (DEPED) recently visited this province to monitor ongoing school building projects and the implementation of the Philippines’ Response to Indigenous People and Muslim Education (PRIME) program, of which Ifugao is a beneficiary.

USEC Alberto Muyot arrived here morning of January 25 and had a meeting with the local government unit officials, Schools Division Superintendent Estela Carino and teachers. He then inspected the repair of the Payawan Elemetary School which was damaged by Typhoons Pedring and Quiel and funded under the Quick Response Fund (QRF) of the national government.

He proceeded to Kiangan to monitor the ongoing construction of the Kiangan National High School financed under the regular fund of the DepEd, then to the towns of Hingyon and Banaue to inspect the repairs of the Hingyon National High School Annex and the Gohang Elementary School, respectively. Both were destroyed by the past typhoons and funded under the QRF.

Muyot also met with division supervisors to discuss the status of the PRIME program in Ifugao. Supervisor Jackie Lunag demonstrated some of the indigenous cultural practices and traditions that can be incorporated as part of the school curriculum in the province.

According to Muyot, he wanted to observe the status of programs and projects of the DepEd in Ifugao especially the PRIME to see how the national government can further help to accelerate the educational development in the province.

The PRIME program is aimed at improving quality of and equity in basic education outcomes for disadvantaged Indigenous Peoples’ (IP) and Muslim communities and will allow the DepEd to focus on the specific supply side needs of IP and Muslim communities including the development of learning materials, training of teachers and adaptations to curriculum.

It is intended to provide targeted communities with additional resources through the provision of grants to respond to demand for services and as a response to addressing gaps identified in the basic education sector like reducing drop-out rates, improve the participation rates, increase completion rates and National Achievement Test (NAT) levels.

Some of its components are the development of IP curriculum, instructional guides and student learning materials including curriculum for IP out-of-school-youths.(JDP/DBC- PIA CAR,Ifugao)