THERE is no denying the fact that early childhood education provides the foundation for learning among children. Science tells us that babies are born ready to learn, with more than one million neural connections forming every second during the first few years of life.
The importance of a child’s early years cannot be gainsaid, because how the brain grows is strongly influenced by what’s happening in a child’s environment. The child’s interactions with the people in his/her immediate environment also matter much in the early learning process.
Advanced countries with highly developed economies invariably invest in their children’s early childhood education (ECE). They recognize the fact that young learners who participate in quality preschool programs are more likely to enter formal elementary grades with the social, cognitive and emotional skills they need to push for further learning. There is a huge body of research that shows that these benefits extend well beyond primary school. Studies have confirmed that higher levels of educational success, employment and social skills have all been linked to various levels of participation in quality ECE.
`We believe education is so important to the nation that everyone – not only the government – should get involved and contribute ideas, effort, time and even money so that we can close the widening educational gap that leaves millions of students behind.’
The Department of Education (DepEd) and Congress, particularly the Senate, are seriously trying to improve the Philippine educational system as a long-term solution to our slow economic growth. Their first move is to recognize the naked problem: Filipino students aged 15 to 16 years old are lagging behind in mathematics, reading, and science compared to other learners from other countries participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Their efforts would be helped much by ramping up early childhood education nationwide.
We are happy that some sectors in the business community are supportive of this effort. The industry-led Philippine Business for Education (PBed) is supporting the institutionalization of early childhood education programs, seeing it as a step in the right direction to improve the overall state of education in the country.
PBed executive director Justine Raagas on Monday said they support the idea being pushed by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian to implement early childhood education programs for three- and four-year-olds.
“Early childhood care and development is important, making sure that our learners, even before they go to Grade 1, already have access to education, to stimulated play so they really develop,” Raagas told reporters recently. She added PISA results confirm that the countries that really perform well actually have more years of pre-kindergarten education.
PBed chairman Ramon del Rosario paints a bleak picture on the status of Philippine education, naming it as a “crisis” and citing such perennial problems as overcrowded classrooms, lack of resources and teacher support, as well as inconsistent assessments and quality checks.
“With over 26 million learners and close to a million teachers, even the best of us will struggle to manage a system of this size and scale. Thus, we need to look at radical and long-term reforms, not band-aid solutions,” he added.
Del Rosario recommended an educational transformation in which local government units and communities play a more central role in education. He cited the “successes of decentralization in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Korea, Brazil, the United States and Poland, along with pioneering efforts in some (local) cities such as Valenzuela and Naga” which should be replicated in other areas.
We believe education is so important to the nation that everyone – not only the government – should get involved and contribute ideas, effort, time and even money so that we can close the widening educational gap that leaves millions of students behind.
