MANILA, Philippine — To ensure that all incoming Grade 1 pupils have developed the necessary learning skills, the Department of Education (DepEd) will implement an eight-week Kindergarten Summer Program (KSP) in all schools nat ionwide f rom April 11 to June 3.

“When young children are better prepared on the ways of school life, they develop a positive attitude towards schooling. They value learning more, strive to excel, and are more likely to finish basic education. This is what we want our young children to develop through KSP,” said Education Secretary Armin Luistro.

Studies reveal that early schooling positively affects students’ completion of elementary and secondary education.

Through KSP, DepEd is set to strengthen its campaign towards achieving the Education For All (EFA) goal by catering to prospective Grade 1 entrants who did not go through preschool. EFA 2015 Plan of Action cites that attaining success in the first grade encourages children to complete elementary education.

To yield more EFA benefits, DepEd- Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE) continues to expand and intensify the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) for children ages three to five years old.

BEE has implemented the preschool program since 1970. However, as of 2010, only 79 percent of the 2.4 million kindergarten children from both public and private schools had been reached. This shows the low readiness level of Grade 1 children and the high incidence of nonreaders and drop outs prevailing until Grade 3.

Kindergarten teachers
Permanent kindergarten teachers and those who were hired under the DepEd subsidized kindergarten program will handle the kindergarten summer classes (KSCs) which shall have a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 25 enrollees.

In cases where the prospective enrollees are located in remote barangays, an itinerant teacher shall be assigned to handle classes in two adjacent barangays, with each class having at least eight enrollees.

All implementing schools shall use the enriched eight-week kindergarten summer program curriculum. Instructional materials that include manipulative toys, songs in CD format, big books and storybooks distributed by the BEE shall be used.