DepEd to expand integration of inclusivity, global citizenship topics in K to 12 curriculum

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The Department of Education (DepEd) is eyeing to advance more topics on inclusivity and global citizenship in the intended curriculum for basic education.

For years, DepEd, through the Bureau of Curriculum Development (BCD), has been updating and recalibrating its curriculum to be up to par with international curriculums, including the integration of global citizenship education.

UNESCO describes global citizenship education as one that aims to equip learners of all ages with those values, knowledge, and skills that are based on and instill respect for human rights, social justice, diversity, gender equality, and environmental sustainability and that empowers learners to be responsible global citizens.

“I am happy to share that Philippine Basic Education has gone quite far in terms of advocating GCED in the curriculum. The last three years have been very vital in establishing the structural mechanisms and support relative to the GCED at various governance levels,” BCD Director Jocelyn Andaya stated.

“With these outputs, the GCED advocacy will likely reach 27 million learners. Though much is needed to be done, the Department of Education, through the Bureau of Curriculum Development, is committed to advancing the courses of GCED in the intended curriculum. As such, may we all be challenged to push all the boundaries that limit us in optimizing the premises and possibilities of GCED,” Director Andaya added.

DepEd, through the International Cooperation Office (ICO), has been in touch with different organizations from different parts of the world to take note of their best practices, their initiatives, and projects that will help in the integration of gender sensitivity and responsiveness, cultural appreciation, and inclusivity to the DepEd curriculum.

“We believe that everyone, our learners, and ourselves included, is a global citizen. We must evolve our curriculum to focus on cultivating values and integrating concepts of global citizenship to help our learners develop into responsive and empowered individuals capable of building and rebuilding peaceful communities in their respective places,” Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio said.

“In our strokes in shaping the curriculum, we not only integrate concepts of Disaster Risk Reduction Management, gender, and cultural sensitivity, but also inclusivity and global citizenship. These are all important in sensitizing our curriculum to ensure that our learners develop holistically and embody being lifelong learners,” he added.

Lacson stands by his record and experience

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Is Sen. Ping Lacson: The most qualified, the most competent, the most experienced candidate?

Senator Panfilo “Ping” has once again proven he is truly the corruption-buster “Mr. Clean” he is touted to be. In recent articles, the presidential candidate known for his strong anti-corruption stance, was recently vindicated for previous crimes he was unjustly accused of during the Arroyo administration. No less than former President Sen. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in her recently launched memoir entitled “Deus Ex Machina,” admitted that the accusations against Sen Lacson were fake.

“The information that was made public could not be substantiated,” GMA wrote in her memoir.

Years later, Marquez recanted accusations against Sen Lacson and apologized. Corpus also issued a publicly televised apology to Lacson for falsely accusing the senator.

True to form, the magnanimous Lacson did not hurl vindictive comments against his accusers. Instead, he tweeted a forgiving message to his former detractor. “Late is always better than never. To ex-PGMA’s credit, she has the decency and courage to admit that she publicly and unjustly accused me of various crimes based of false information. Whatever, I have already forgiven her a long time ago.”

Even in the thick of the present presidential election, Lacson maintains his nonbelligerent stance, preferring not to say anything about the other candidates wanting to be President of the Philippines because he is also running for the position.

In his recent interview session with Boy Abunda for the television personality’s series 2022 Presidential One-on-One Interviews, Lacson, one of five presidential candidates who were invited to the show, chose to talk instead about what made him best suited for the highest position in the Philippines.

“I am the most qualified, the most competent, the most experienced (candidate),” he told Abunda matter-of-factly without mentioning any of his rivals.

The candidate said it was time for voters to be discerning, to realize that politics was not entertainment and they should not be influenced by dole-outs.

In his campaign sorties, a singing and dancing Lacson would certainly not be on the program. “I won’t sacrifice authenticity,” he said, and would not do anything that had nothing to do with the country’s problems.

“The number one problem is the government, so the solution is the government- good, honest governance,” he said.

Lacson stressed, “Tough problems need tough solutions from the country’s top leaders.” His goal, if elected president, was to leave the country better off than when he started and see a greater respect for government officials.

Although he acknowledged that the qualifications for presidential candidates were so much simpler than those required of job applicants, the senator also pointed out that college degrees do not guarantee outstanding public service.

“Maraming may PhD na mas magaling magnakaw kaysa magsilbi sa bayan (there are many people with doctoral degrees who are very skilled in stealing public funds than in serving the country),” he said.

He would not oppose though some changes in the qualifications, although it would require a constitutional amendment. The job was demanding, he pointed out, and it called for skills in handling crises like the still ongoing corona virus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

Lacson said he would lead by example if he were elected president. He recalled that he was able to minimize graft and corruption in the Philippine National Police when he was its chief by consistently showing he could not be bribed. It was his leadership by example, he said, that drastically reduced, if not totally eliminated, corruption in the police establishment.

As a senator, he did not collect the pork barrel, or extra funds allocated to legislators ostensibly to finance pet projects. He was able to save the country millions of pesos by carefully and thoroughly reviewing every proposed annual budget of the government, he said.

Lacson would push for digitization and automation in government as president so there would be no human intervention. He said, “Human intervention always resulted in corruption.”

Lacson supported the resumption of mining in the country, “a major industry” of the Philippines, but it should be sustainable and responsible. “It must be data-driven and science-based.”

However, he also expressed concern that corruption would create the same problems as before. “Corruption lets violators get away (with their crimes). Palakasan (pull or influence) allowed people with the right connections to do as they please.”

Lacson’s vice presidential candidate is Senate President Vicente “Tito” C. Sotto III.

For more info on Ping Lacson, follow https://www.facebook.com/PingLacsonOfficial.









Sen Lacson being interviewed by host Boy Abunda

Microsoft launches ‘Cyber Signals’, quarterly cyber threat intelligence brief

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Microsoft recently introduced Cyber Signals, a quarterly cyber threat intelligence brief informed by the latest Microsoft threat data and research. The content offers an expert perspective into the current thread landscape, discussing trending tactics, techniques, and strategies used by the world's most prolific threat actors.

"Online threats are increasing in volume, velocity, and sophistication. From IoT to nation-state activity, new ransomware tactics to insights into the cybercriminal economy, Cyber Signals provides trend analysis and practical guidance to strengthen the first line of digital defense,” said Vasu Jakkal, Corporate Vice President, Security, Compliance, and Identity of Microsoft. "We hope it’s a valuable resource to Chief Information Security Officers, Chief Information Officers, Chief Privacy Officers, and their teams, as they continue to evolve technologies, policies, and processes against the constantly changing threat landscape."

The Cyber Signals brief aggregates insights from Microsoft's research and security teams on the frontlines, including analysis from the company's 24 trillion security signals combined with intelligence monitoring of more than 40 nation-state groups and 140 plus threat groups.

The first edition of Cyber Signals unpacks the topic of identity and maintaining good security hygiene to mitigate potential identity risks.

With increasing numbers of people working remotely and accessing their business apps and data from multiple locations, including home offices, coworking spaces, and other remote locations, threats have risen dramatically in the past two years. However, there has been low adoption of strong identity authentication such as multifactor authentication (MFA) and passwordless solutions.

Microsoft’s research shows that across industries, only 22 percent of Microsoft's Cloud Identity Solution, Azure Active Directory (AAD), users have implemented strong identity authentication protection as of December last year. In 2021 alone, Microsoft blocked more than 25.6 billion AAD brute force authentication attacks, 9.6 billion malware threats targeting enterprise and consumer customer devices, and intercepted 35.7 billion phishing emails with Microsoft Defender for Office 365.

“MFA and passwordless solutions can go a long way in preventing a variety of threats and we’re committed to educating customers on solutions such as these to better protect themselves,” said Jakkal.

Every day, Microsoft analyzes over 6.5 trillion signals to identify emerging threats to protect customers and in response to the increasing cyber threats in the Philippines and globally, Microsoft will invest $20 billion over the next five years to accelerate efforts to integrate cyber security by design and to deliver advanced security solutions.

Learn more and access the full Cyber Signals report here.