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Philippines
Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao
(BEAM)
Project
BEAM is an initiative of the Philippine
Department of Education and receives support
from the Australian government through the Australian
Agency for International Development or AusAid.
The goal of BEAM is to improve the quality of
and access to basic education in Mindanao, particularly
the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)
and thereby contribute to the attainment of peace
and development in that war-torn region of the
Philippines.
Project BEAM has several features that promote
school-community partnership. Most noteworthy
of which involves the indigenous people of Mindanao
or the Lumads who represent the largest
unschooled and poorest population in the region.
BEAM addresses the the educational concerns of
the Lumad schoolchildren and the community
as a whole. Lumad teachers are trained
to teach early childhood education using indigenized
learning materials approved by the Department
of Education. Parents of the children, for their
part, attend functional literacy classes which
are held simultaneous with the the classes of
their children. Community participation is further
reinforced since parents help out in the construction
and maintenance of their tribal learning centers
and even volunteers as para-teachers.
This partnership between the school and the community
increases the Lumads sense of cultural
identity and strengthens their sense of community
ownership. On top of these, enrolment of Lumads
in formal schools has also significantly increased.
TAO
kiddie PAMANA
The project’s objective is to generate models
of partnership between the school and the family
in providing early childhood care and education
through the following: (1) utilizing the home
as the venue for “preschool” learning;
(2) training the mothers to be the early-year
child care and development “teachers”
of the children; and (3) developing the family
and the home to provide the right environment
for the child’s early learning experiences.
Initially implemented in the disadvantaged areas
of Malabon and Navotas in Metro Manila, TAO kiddie
PAMANA engages the family and the community through
a number of community service components. Among
these are physical examination of the children,
de-worming, nutrition assessment and distribution
of hot meals to the children twice a week.
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