LC getting ready for 2015
Richard M. Collado
Poverty and hunger indeed are two main global issues. It has been identified as two of the roots of all other concerns to be immediately addressed. In fact the United Nations Development Programme is making full efforts, calling on donors to “continue, and ideally boost, their current commitments” to help the agency pull the world’s developing countries out of poverty.
With the help of the United Nations’ 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (End poverty and hunger, Universal Education, Gender Equality, Child Health, Maternal Health, Combat HIV/AIDS, Environmental Sustainability, Global Partnership), these alarming global problems will be mitigated if all the concerned agencies will participate actively.
In the country, they have been doing all sorts to respond to this call. On June 8, 2005, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo launched the "Dunong ng Bata, Yaman ng Bansa" or the National Supplemental Feeding Program (NSFP) to reduce by 50% the prevalence of 0 to 5 underweight children in 2015. Since then, food distribution continued for said sector through the Department of Education and the DSWD and in partnership with concerned agencies and the local government units.
This is indeed a commendable effort of the government. Evidently because of this noble program almost all the schools nationwide are sponsoring supplemental feeding programs. Local government units, private agencies are strengthening their partnership in organizing information dissemination and parallel programs to address these issues.
Youth are likewise actively been involved in this call. In the 10th International Youth Day held last August 5-7 which was spearheaded by the United Nations Youth Association of the Philippines, which was participated in by youth around the globe, they have an intensive discuss ion on platform of actions in realizing the United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals.
In the city of Laoag, aside from the feeding programs, the Laoag City government is giving scholarships to deserving school children from elementary and secondary schools. Recipients of the said scholarships were identified by the schools based on the criteria for selection.
While it is true that in order for one to succeed, the effort must come from him but if no one will help, still it is difficult especially if the family is facing the challenge of poverty and hunger.
As what the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark said, “If children are pulled out of school because of the effects of the crisis on their families and their countries’ budgets, they may never get a second chance in education. If children have poor nutrition because of the crisis, the long-term effects on their cognitive skills and productive potential are serious.”
This is a challenge to all that come 2015, poverty and hunger will be eliminated, education will be highlighted, and progress will be achieved with the concerted effort of the public.
Monday, September 28, 2009
ACHIEVING MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
ACHIEVING MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
THROUGH ENGLISH PROFICIENCY
Richard M. Collado
Even in the midst of continuing impediments to realize the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro called on the world “to show that it can (still) make progress under adverse conditions.
While it is true that the United Nations Organization is making their optimum efforts to mitigate the challenges of the present global condition through these so called MDGs of 2015, countries around the globe should likewise participate and act accordingly in combating the eight major concerns to realize the said goal.
Undeniably, poverty and hunger were identified as two roots of all other global concerns. But these can be addressed side by side with proper education. If we are going to trace history, lack of proper education leads to idleness and uselessness. That is the very reason why education is always the top priority in the country as it has been justified in the national budget. But is quality education really been catered to most of the learners?
In the global arena employment is so competitive. For you to become a world class worker, it is very essential that you need to be proficient linguistically. You should be able to demonstrate both accuracy and fluency, and can use a variety of discourse strategies.
For this reason the government through the Department of Education is launching several programs to meet this demand. Even the private sectors made their own movements. One of which is the ‘Promoting English Proficiency’ (PEP) Project an initiative of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and the Makati Business Club that aims to develop a world-class Filipino workforce with English proficiency that meets high international standards.
"English means jobs," said Rick Santos, AmCham president. "We believe that there are great opportunities in business process outsourcing (BPO), IT-enabled services, software development, and tourism in the country.
With this we can see how important English proficiency works to this aspect. In the country, the proliferation of BPO companies has opened job opportunities to Filipinos. But one of the most important qualifications that a customer representative must possess is the ability to speak with an American intonation. These companies cite Filipinos' cultural inclination towards Americans and their "proverbial" American accent. But take note of this: Russ Sandlin, an American businessman in the Philippines, recently closed his call center in Manila because he said he could not find enough English proficient workers. “Not even 3 percent of the students who graduate college here are employable in call centers,” he complained.
Adding to this, the Department of Education reported that 80 percent of secondary school teachers in the Philippines failed in an English proficiency test in 2007.
So where is the veracity of those claims that the Philippines have a substantial pool of English-proficient workers?
What the government and the industry should do is go back to formal education, a step steadily taken through the House Bill 305: mandating the use of English as the medium of instruction in all academic subjects from Grade 3 onwards and encouraging the use of English as the medium of interaction outside the classrooms to be able to produce citizens who are proficient in English and globally competitive.
The call of the time is employment is equated with English proficiency. In the workplace people can interact and participate actively to issues which make them feel how their dignity was elevated and it help them value life. If we will reach this level, MDGs (End poverty and hunger, Universal Education, Gender Equality, Child Health, Maternal Health, Combat HIV/AIDS, Environmental Sustainability, Global Partnership), eventually be realized even earlier than 2015.
THROUGH ENGLISH PROFICIENCY
Richard M. Collado
Even in the midst of continuing impediments to realize the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro called on the world “to show that it can (still) make progress under adverse conditions.
While it is true that the United Nations Organization is making their optimum efforts to mitigate the challenges of the present global condition through these so called MDGs of 2015, countries around the globe should likewise participate and act accordingly in combating the eight major concerns to realize the said goal.
Undeniably, poverty and hunger were identified as two roots of all other global concerns. But these can be addressed side by side with proper education. If we are going to trace history, lack of proper education leads to idleness and uselessness. That is the very reason why education is always the top priority in the country as it has been justified in the national budget. But is quality education really been catered to most of the learners?
In the global arena employment is so competitive. For you to become a world class worker, it is very essential that you need to be proficient linguistically. You should be able to demonstrate both accuracy and fluency, and can use a variety of discourse strategies.
For this reason the government through the Department of Education is launching several programs to meet this demand. Even the private sectors made their own movements. One of which is the ‘Promoting English Proficiency’ (PEP) Project an initiative of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and the Makati Business Club that aims to develop a world-class Filipino workforce with English proficiency that meets high international standards.
"English means jobs," said Rick Santos, AmCham president. "We believe that there are great opportunities in business process outsourcing (BPO), IT-enabled services, software development, and tourism in the country.
With this we can see how important English proficiency works to this aspect. In the country, the proliferation of BPO companies has opened job opportunities to Filipinos. But one of the most important qualifications that a customer representative must possess is the ability to speak with an American intonation. These companies cite Filipinos' cultural inclination towards Americans and their "proverbial" American accent. But take note of this: Russ Sandlin, an American businessman in the Philippines, recently closed his call center in Manila because he said he could not find enough English proficient workers. “Not even 3 percent of the students who graduate college here are employable in call centers,” he complained.
Adding to this, the Department of Education reported that 80 percent of secondary school teachers in the Philippines failed in an English proficiency test in 2007.
So where is the veracity of those claims that the Philippines have a substantial pool of English-proficient workers?
What the government and the industry should do is go back to formal education, a step steadily taken through the House Bill 305: mandating the use of English as the medium of instruction in all academic subjects from Grade 3 onwards and encouraging the use of English as the medium of interaction outside the classrooms to be able to produce citizens who are proficient in English and globally competitive.
The call of the time is employment is equated with English proficiency. In the workplace people can interact and participate actively to issues which make them feel how their dignity was elevated and it help them value life. If we will reach this level, MDGs (End poverty and hunger, Universal Education, Gender Equality, Child Health, Maternal Health, Combat HIV/AIDS, Environmental Sustainability, Global Partnership), eventually be realized even earlier than 2015.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
IN MY SOLITUDE
IN MY SOLITUDE
Richard M. Collado
Love has never wane in its indefinite an infinite mystery. It captures the vibrant colors of dawn and haunts the echoing silence of twilight. It weaves tales of complexities that are incomprehensible, not even a sage can especially when the two powerful forces of mystery and fate conspire to move creatures in serial crossroads and in mystifying labyrinth of life.
For almost three decades now, I’ve been searching for the probabilities of love in various dimensions. I’ve tasted the bitterest of it yet it turned out to be the sweetest. And the sweetest which I knew ideally, became bitter in reality. I even fight with the ocean in its roaring waves in spite of cunning less to swim yet I have forcibly learned it eventually. I have been into the battlefield without a sword and a shield yet what was so amazing is, you will come to know that somebody will just keep you from harm. But all of these are incomparable in the greatest challenge of my life, the battle within myself.
Certainly, understanding oneself is the hardest thing to do. It can’t answer you back if you have queries. It can’t explain uncertainties. But the keenness of our senses will articulate everything in our solitude. We need to be a slave in a moment of silence even in the busiest days of our life. Introspection as they say can help you comprehend qualms. Yes, and this day I grabbed the elusive time which was hiding and has never mine for a long time. I took a moment of silence and there I have found the answers to some of my questions but still cynical.
For the past years, I am fortunate that I have at least felt the existence of that feeling that you can feel when someone feels the feeling that you feel. Funny?!!! It’s love, that’s what I’m toying at. It’s really so amazing how it works in a very unique means of making people in a crazy like state. They do all sorts to make their lines active to quench their intense wanting of that strange feeling, from the stereotypical ways (writing notes, words that are sweet-nothings) to the state-of –the –art media to conceive and nurture a relationship. Admittedly, I have been so negative about these things, not until I have tried and enjoyed its offers.
My senses have been dormant for almost ten years. Psychological imbalance terrorized my being. Freudian wanting has never visited me in my dreams. It’s indeed alarming! It’s far beyond normal, until I tried opening myself to infinite possibilities. And there, I found out, lies an inexplicable experience of a world which I have not been into for almost 10 long years. I enjoyed it, undeniably, yet eventually I just found myself hollow, empty and cold.
Then I go back questioning. “What power does love possesses?” I can’t get rid of it even I know for a fact that it might cause me trouble within myself. Yet, unexpectedly, came this stranger, possessing a hypnotic spell that even in just a couple of minutes you will be enveloped in its enchantment. How wonderful this spell would be. It never frightened me at all but instead it gives me a feeling of acceptance and a substance which fills my incompleteness. However, it’s just like a world of phantom, it will just fade unexpectedly. Then again, I’ll just go back to the world of delusion and found myself hoping that everything will come true.
Now in my solitude, I’m trying to trace a picture of myself after all that I went through. Am I really happy that at least I have tasted the conspiracy of love and fate or regretful because it just brought me into complexities and perplexities? But no, love is always right and nothing it can offer but happiness, it’s on us how we make it real.
Richard M. Collado
Love has never wane in its indefinite an infinite mystery. It captures the vibrant colors of dawn and haunts the echoing silence of twilight. It weaves tales of complexities that are incomprehensible, not even a sage can especially when the two powerful forces of mystery and fate conspire to move creatures in serial crossroads and in mystifying labyrinth of life.
For almost three decades now, I’ve been searching for the probabilities of love in various dimensions. I’ve tasted the bitterest of it yet it turned out to be the sweetest. And the sweetest which I knew ideally, became bitter in reality. I even fight with the ocean in its roaring waves in spite of cunning less to swim yet I have forcibly learned it eventually. I have been into the battlefield without a sword and a shield yet what was so amazing is, you will come to know that somebody will just keep you from harm. But all of these are incomparable in the greatest challenge of my life, the battle within myself.
Certainly, understanding oneself is the hardest thing to do. It can’t answer you back if you have queries. It can’t explain uncertainties. But the keenness of our senses will articulate everything in our solitude. We need to be a slave in a moment of silence even in the busiest days of our life. Introspection as they say can help you comprehend qualms. Yes, and this day I grabbed the elusive time which was hiding and has never mine for a long time. I took a moment of silence and there I have found the answers to some of my questions but still cynical.
For the past years, I am fortunate that I have at least felt the existence of that feeling that you can feel when someone feels the feeling that you feel. Funny?!!! It’s love, that’s what I’m toying at. It’s really so amazing how it works in a very unique means of making people in a crazy like state. They do all sorts to make their lines active to quench their intense wanting of that strange feeling, from the stereotypical ways (writing notes, words that are sweet-nothings) to the state-of –the –art media to conceive and nurture a relationship. Admittedly, I have been so negative about these things, not until I have tried and enjoyed its offers.
My senses have been dormant for almost ten years. Psychological imbalance terrorized my being. Freudian wanting has never visited me in my dreams. It’s indeed alarming! It’s far beyond normal, until I tried opening myself to infinite possibilities. And there, I found out, lies an inexplicable experience of a world which I have not been into for almost 10 long years. I enjoyed it, undeniably, yet eventually I just found myself hollow, empty and cold.
Then I go back questioning. “What power does love possesses?” I can’t get rid of it even I know for a fact that it might cause me trouble within myself. Yet, unexpectedly, came this stranger, possessing a hypnotic spell that even in just a couple of minutes you will be enveloped in its enchantment. How wonderful this spell would be. It never frightened me at all but instead it gives me a feeling of acceptance and a substance which fills my incompleteness. However, it’s just like a world of phantom, it will just fade unexpectedly. Then again, I’ll just go back to the world of delusion and found myself hoping that everything will come true.
Now in my solitude, I’m trying to trace a picture of myself after all that I went through. Am I really happy that at least I have tasted the conspiracy of love and fate or regretful because it just brought me into complexities and perplexities? But no, love is always right and nothing it can offer but happiness, it’s on us how we make it real.
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