Officials of the Department of Education in Bicol (DepEd-5) on Thursday met with members of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) for a consultative meeting on the implementation of the Learning Recovery Plan (LRP) at the Senate in Pasay City. In a statement on Thursday, DepEd-5 regional director Gilbert Sadsad said being the first region to develop and implement the LRP, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte has chosen DepEd-Bicol to represent the agency and to discuss before the EDCOM II the region’s LRP initiatives including the results of the initial assessment of its 8-week Learning Recovery Curriculum (LRC). “Our region applauds the new administration of Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte for giving priority to learning recovery by ensuring that learning gaps are identified and addressed among all learners, especially the most vulnerable ones through the extensive implementation of the Learning Recovery and Continuity Plan (LRCP),’ Sadsad said. The EDCOM II subcommittee on basic education will convene with officials of the DepEd central office to discuss the salient features of the agency’s National Learning Recovery Program and to elaborate on other LRP-related programs and initiatives. The consultative meeting also highlights the various learning materials developed by DepEd to help address learning losses brought about by the pandemic. In an interview, Mayflor Marie Jumamil, DepEd-Bicol information office head, said the team will present the practices of the region when it comes to the 8-week LRP, including how it was conceptualized and the result of the plan. “It’s an honor to be recognized by our central office specially the efforts of the Bicol region as a whole. The central office and other regions have started to conceptualize their recovery plan for benchmarking in the Bicol region initiatives. So it’s really an honor,” she said. Jumamil said with the invitation, learners and teachers in the region will be inspired to become more determined and passionate in their tasks. ‘Together with our regional director Sadsad were the DepEd Bicol LRP focal person Joan Lagata and Curriculum and Learning Management Division (CLMD) Grace Rabelas,’ she added. EDCOM II is co-chaired by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, Sen. Francis Escudero, Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo and Baguio Rep. Mark Go. The commission is mandated to undertake a comprehensive national assessment and evaluation of the performance of the Philippine education sector from 2023 to 2025. Meanwhile, Jumamil added that almost 80,000 children have been registered since the registration for school year 2023-2024 began last May 10. Deped-5 data showed that learners who have preregistered include 16,175 for Kindergarten; 30,634 for Grade 1; 14,019 for Grade 7 and 17,273 for Grade 11. Some “1,877 or 47.60 percent out of the 3,943 public schools from elementary and secondary school have submitted. DepEd-Bicol expects to have 540,727 enrollees for Kinder, Grade 1, 7 and 11,” she said. Jumamil commended the school division offices of Iriga City, Legazpi City, Masbate City and Tabaco City for achieving 100 percent participation in the early registration.

Source: Philippines News Agency