Philippines: A long way to go for Special Education by Ivy Jimera, Ivy Jimera, Ivy Jimera, Ivy Jimera (english reading book .TXT) 📕

Philippines: A long way to go for Special Education

Philippines: A long way to go for Special Education

 

Ideally, every public school should have a special education program – but the DepEd still has a long way to go.

 

 

PASSION FOR SPED. Feliciano Sante, 36, says his love and passion for SPED make him stay. 

 

 

 

MANILA, Philippines – He almost got hit by a chair on his first day on the job. After getting briefed by more experienced colleagues, Feliciano Sante knew more or less what to do should a kid throw a tantrum. But left to his own, the scene still took him by surprise.

Teaching in special education (SPED), he learned, is worlds different from the usual teaching he knew. That was 6 years ago, in 2008, when Sante had to learn from scratch how to teach 15 children with special needs in Malaybalay City Central School.

Together with a few SPED teachers, he used to have the biggest classroom in the school – the gymnasium – which housed about 90 pupils.

Since then, the school has provided 6 more classrooms, but the gymnasium today still accommodates quite a number of children with special needs from Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.

 

 

State of Special Education

 

 

 

CHALLENGES AHEAD. DepEd SPED division chair Mirla Olores talks about the state of special education in public schools in the country.

 

 

 

With the “zero reject” policy, any parent can enroll their children in public schools – even SPED pupils. Unfortunately, not all public schools in the country have a SPED center, or at least a SPED program.

 

“Every school should have a program for SPED, kasi lahat ng bata, makikita mo sa lahat ng eskwelahan (you will see all kinds of children in schools),” Department of Education (DepEd) SPED division chief Mirla Olores said.

 

Citing an estimate from the World Health Organization, Olores said children with special needs comprise 15% of the population in a given community. Back in 2012, they were estimated to be more or less 13% of the country's youth and children, with only 2% receiving government support.                                                                                                                                      

But today, only 416 SPED centers nationwide are funded by the government, with 4 more waiting for recognition. Aside from this, Olores estimated around 200 public schools offer a SPED program, but without a center.

 

That is 620 out of 34,000 public elementary schools nationwide – a long way to go, obviously, for special education in the Philippines. Based on enrollment alone, there are 239,000 SPED pupils in public elementary schools today, and only 6,000 pure SPED teacher-items. But since the ultimate goal of special education is thechild's integration or “mainstreaming” into regular school – and eventually, in the community – Olores said every teacher should have an orientation in special education.

 

“Kasi akala ng teacher bobo lang [yung estudyante], 'yun pala may specific disability. Ang teacher gagawa ng maraming sulat sa board, 'yun pala 'yung bata nagsasayaw lang yung mga letra [para sa kanya] kasi reading disability,iba-brand ngayon sya na bobo. Kaya lahat ng teacher dapat alam ang SPED,” she said.                                (What teachers call stupidity is actually a specific disability. As the teacher writes on the board, and the letters seem to be dancing for the child with reading disability, the teacher might brand him as stupid. That is why all teachers must know SPED.)

 

Marching on   

 

In reality, not all teachers are and will be brave enough to choose what Sante did. He was offered to go back to regular school to teach pre-schoolers, but he turned it down.

 

“Ma'am, sorry Ma'am,” he recalled as saying, “'Di ko talaga iiwan yung SPED. Yung passion ko, yung love ko nandoon na talaga sa mga SPED na bata. Yung challenge nandun saSPED at yung awa sa mga bata, mga estudyanteng walang-wala talaga.”   

 

            On February 17, DepEd announced the 19 winners of the 2013 Outstanding SPED teachers nationwide – among them, Sante, who ranked third among teachers teaching children with intellectual disability (ID). Despite the recognition, he does not paint the job with rainbows and butterflies, admitting even that in some days, he gets tired of it all.

 

“'Di talaga maiwasan – tao lang tayo. Tapos minsan hindi talaga maiwasan na mag-explode patience mo lalo sa bata, iba't ibang klase 'to. May time na nakakasawa kasi paulit-ulit lang yung klase, yung tinuturo mo sa mga bata...Pero 'pag naisip ko yung pangangailangan ng mga bata, 'pag nag-stop ako, sino naman kaya [ang gagawa]? Dun na lang ako humuhugot [ng lakas]” he said.

 

 

 

 

HONOR. Sante looks at his award during    the regional awarding of outstanding Sped

 

Still, he celebrates the little victories: a pupil who kept repeating grade 1 finally passed with honors, while another who was diagnosed with a learning disability will soon be graduating with honors from elementary this coming March.

 

“Pangarap ko [para] sa lahat ng [SPED] pupils: makapag-aral silang lahat...at [matupad] ang mga pangarap sa buhay [dahil] may pangarap talaga [sila] sa buhay. Pangarap kong matanggap sila sa lipunan [nang] walang diskriminasyon,” Sante said.

 

These dreams could come true if teachers like him are no longer a rarity.

RESUME

Ivy Joy E. Jimera

 

 

 

202 Legarda St. Quiapo,Manila
+639301806196

[email protected]

 

 

 

Objectives

Looking for a position of Special education teaching to use my strong passion for children’s development, together with skills and experience that will enable me to make a significant difference at your school. To build a long-term career as an elementary teacher with opportunities for career growth and to keep up with the cutting edge of the teaching technologies. Obtain a teaching position that uses modern teaching methods such as e-learning and team learning.   EDUCATION

 

Gubat North Central School (2005-2008)

Gubat National High School(2008-2013)

The National Teachers College (2013-2017)

Awards And Accomplishments Attained:

 

Jerry Roxas Leadership Awardee

Orator of the Year

High School Supreme Government President

Best Female Anchor

Special Education Association Development Vice-President

Gazette Writer

Jose Rizal Family Resources Foundation Scholar

 

TRAINING 

 

10 days Sign Language Training (Emilianum Tutorial Centre )

10 days Braille Training (Emilianum Tutorial Centre)

10 days PEDYA TRAINING KAMP ISABELA

“Enabling Youth with Special Needs for Life: The ILLC Experience” Training

Wika at Panitikan Seminar

“NTC College Y’ers: Catalysts Nation Building” Seminar

“Android Application Development” Seminar

Workshop on Music Therapy (Paco, Manila)

 

SKILLS

 

Writing

Public Speaking

Sign Language

Braille

Leadership and Management

                                            Imprint

Text: Jimera Company
Images: Ivy Jimera
Editing: Ivy Jimera
Translation: Ivy Jimera
Publication Date: 07-17-2015

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
This is a very helpful info for all Educators and students , parents as well