The Department of Education (DepEd) received teaching and learning resources from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as a support for its early grade initiatives, the United States Embassy said last Friday.
The ceremonial handover took place during the National Consultation for Philippine participation in the 2022 United Nations Transforming Education Summit.
Included in the resources donated were USAID-developed teacher training materials, literacy and numeracy packages, early grade reading materials, and materials supporting literacy assessment.
USAID Director of the Regional Financial Services Center Bret Campbell led the turnover to DepEd Undersecretaries Nepomuceno Malaluan and Diosdado San Antonio.
For Undersecretary Malaluan, the event is symbolic of the strong partnership between DepEd and USAID.
“We are happy to accept the materials, which is symbolic of the strong partnership between DepEd and USAID” Malaluan said.
“In this partnership, we have sought common aspirations, as well as shared commitment,” he added.
DepEd organized the national consultations during its education forum in Baguio City to discuss the policy, planning, and budgetary changes needed to recover learning losses, actions needed to get back on track to meet UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 of inclusive education for all and steps required to reimagine education systems for the future.
“I have no doubt that the Education Forum will play a key role in ensuring inclusion, consensus, and most importantly, continuity and action,” Malaluan said.
Meanwhile, USAID voiced its support for DepEd’s national consultations and urged education partners to find solutions and actions to help transform education.
“The U.S. government, through USAID, remains committed to strengthening and reimagining global education systems and revitalizing national and global efforts to ensure every child has access to free, equitable, and quality education,” Campbell said.
USAID, through its ABC+: Advancing Basic Education in the Philippines project, has trained more than 23, 000 teachers and distributed over 11.5 million early grade reading materials to aid Filipino learners.
