Regional Director Wilfredo E. Cabral declared that despite unprecendent crises the region has faced, DepEd CALABARZON still managed to implement and carry out the plans the Region had intended for 2020.
“Our services were disturbed but we were not disrupted,” RD Cabral said in his State of the Region Address, delivered during the 2021 CALABARZON Stakeholders Summit on January 21.
RD Cabral said that the region managed to attain victories and address bottlenecks through strategic leadership management, curriculum management, quality assurance management, people development, and partnership building.
“What we have learned is that timely decisions, regular consultations, and hands-on management at every layer of governance marked the seal of continued delivery of services,” RD Cabral explained.
He stated that despite enormous challenges the Region faced, they managed to gain support from local government units, partners, and stakeholders to address the needs of over 3 million learners who enrolled for distance learning.
The regional director added that CALABARZON’s education stakeholders provided teacher trainings, supplies, gadgets, manpower services, and allowances that helped eased the burden of its teachers, parents, and learners.
Furthermore, over 25,000 units of gadgets have been or will be distributed in different Schools Divisions which was made possible through the initiative of the different local government units and DepEd-led procurement using funds from the Central Office.
Other strategies that were done in partnership with organizations were the use of Radio and local TV channels to support distance. Teachers and learning support aides were also hired to address the surge in enrollment. Deadlines for private schools were also adjusted in consideration of the pandemic.
Distance learning for the second quarter
RD Cabral also showed that the Region was more prepared for the second quarter after the lessons it has learned from the first.
He expounded that regionally-developed Self Learning Modules (SLMs) received no negative feedback in terms of content, language, and technical aspects. He emphasized that these modules are even uploaded in DepEd Commons, an online learning resource accessible by any learner or teacher.
Stakeholders also contributed in distributing additional resources such as learning kits, transistor radios, and flash drives to further support distance learning in the second quarter. Meanwhile, teachers received communication allowances and off-site technical assistance.
2021 Priorities
Gearing up for a better year, RD Cabral emphasized that the Region will improve the skillset of its personnel and will ensure the continuous delivery of quality education to its learners. He adds that DepEd CALABARZON will also increase its knowledge of products and services of existing and potential partners for greater collaboration in the area of demand-driven networking initiatives.
RD Cabral added that DepEd CALABARZON is ready to face the challenges the next school year will bring but emphasized the importance of educational partners and partners in the continued delivery of education.
“Mas magiging matibay ang aming paghahanda, ang aming pagsalunga sa mga gawain na haharapin kung nadyan po kayo mga katuwang, mga kapartner, our valued stakeholders of education,” the regional director said. (Ma. Joan Paula D. Dino, DepEd CALABARZON – Public Affairs Unit)