THE Department of Education has adopted a recovery program to address the learning gaps of students that were heightened by lockdowns and school closures at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The order, issued yesterday by Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte, said the National Learning Recovery Program (NLRP) also aims to deal with the “low performance” of students in international large-scale assessments and national assessments.
“Anchored on the MATATAG: Bansang Makabata, Batang Makabansa agenda, DepEd adopts the NLRP to strengthen the learning recovery and continuity program of the Department, improve numeracy and literacy, and, accelerate the achievement of the education targets,” Duterte’s order said.
“This shall primarily address the learning gaps through the concerted effort of DepEd, through the Curriculum and Teaching Strand, and all its offices, in collaboration with stakeholders from the public and private sectors,” it added.
The order said the NLRP has five subprograms to help bridge the learning gaps, namely, the National Learning Camp, National Reading Program, National Mathematics Program, National Science and Technology Program, and other programs implemented by the Central Office and field offices that support learning recovery efforts.
“The critical outcome of DepEd’s recovery plan is ensuring that learning gaps are addressed among all learners, particularly those who are the most vulnerable ones and those in situations of disadvantage,” the order said.
The National Learning Camp is a voluntary end-of-school-year break program meant to improve learning through enhancement, consolidation, or intervention camps in all learning areas for K to 12 learners, and enhance teacher skills and capacity.
On the other hand, the National Reading Program and National Mathematics Program promote reading skills development in the early grades and better numeracy and mathematics capacity and learning across all grade levels.
The department said the National Science and Technology Program is designed to develop the scientific and technological literacy of Grades 4 to 10 students.
Earlier, Duterte told teachers to focus on academics to keep up with the learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic when there were no in-person classes.
Last year, the Philippines was tagged as among the countries with the highest rates of “learning poverty” in East Asia and the Pacific in a World Bank study that found that nine out of 10 Filipino children struggled to read simple text by age 10.
