BY ANTONIO DELOS REYES
Proper education is more than just teaching children different subjects such as math, science, history, art, and other subject matters found in the school curriculum. While these subjects help equip a student with a solid educational foundation, there are also other matters that students must learn at a young age, one of which is financial literacy.
The Department of Education (DepEd) has recognized the need to include financial literacy into the curriculum as it empowers them to make wise financial decisions, in taking advantage of economic opportunities, and in achieving financial health.
In line with this, DepEd has partnered with BDO Foundation and Huawei in launching the Search for the Best Supplemental Learning Materials in the Teaching of Defined Key Concepts in Science and Mathematics. The project is an SLM-writing competition for teachers on developing creative and innovative self-learning modules (SLMs) that best integrate financial literacy concepts in Science and Mathematics.
“We are very fortunate to have partners such as the BDO Foundation that have been aggressive in their efforts to make sure that appropriate learning resources and incentives are provided so that our fellow teachers could find innovative ways of making sure that the young Filipinos under their care are able to develop the appropriate financial literacy required for successful and happy lives later on,” DepEd Usec. Disodado San Antonio said during the signing of the memorandum of agreement.
“This initiative in partnership with Huawei is an efficient way to spread education in science and math and also financial literacy which is of paramount importance to our economy. I do hope that this partnership will grow and there will be more participants, and also that there will be more people that would benefit from it,” BDO Foundation chair Teresita Sy-Coson.
The competition is open to all public and private elementary and junior highschool (JHS) Science and Math teachers and will consist of four categories: SLMs in Mathematics for Elementary, SLMs in Mathematics for JHSs, SLMs for Science in Elementary, and SLMs for Science in JHS. SLMs for elementary will cover the learning competencies anywhere from grades 4 to 6 while SLMs for JHS will cover grade 7 to 10.
Entries can be submitted until January 31, 2022 and winners will be announced on April 29, 2022. The winning entries for each category will receive P50,000 while second and third will receive P35,000 and P20,000 respectively. Non-winning entries will receive a consolation prize of P3,500 and all participants will receive a certificate of participation. These SLMs will be used in the blended learning setup that is currently being implemented by DepEd for all schools, both public and private.
