9,000 elementary, high school students converge in Subic for national competitions

SUBIC BAY, OLONGAPO – Over 9,000 students gathered this week for the Department of Education’s (DepEd) National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) and the National Festival of Talents (NFOT). 

The yearly events are the culminating activities of various school programs in writing & journalism, arts, and technical-vocational education.

The NSPC opening ceremonies were held at the Subic Bay Exhibition Center, with TESDA Director-General Joel Villanueva as keynote speaker representing President Benigno Aquino. After the short event, DepEd officials, led by Secretary Br Armin Luistro FSC, then moved to Olongapo City Convention Center to open the NFOT.

Luistro spoke about how Filipino artists may not always be technically perfect, but have ‘soul.’ 

The opening ceremonies were capped by a street dancing competition called “Bayle sa Kalye,” which also showcased each region’s cultural heritage.

Present at the events were DepEd Undersecretaries Alberto Muyot and Dina Ocampo as well as DepEd’s Regional Directors and local officials. Olongapo City Mayor Rolen Paulino and Rowell Cabigting representing SBMA were also on hand to welcome the delegates.

“Hindi natitinag ang pusong Pilipino”

Representatives of Yolanda-stricken Region 8 were given a standing ovation by the delegates during the opening ceremonies. The region is not competing, but officials attended to observe the concurrent lecture sessions and ceremonially turn over hosting duties to Region 3. Last year’s NSPC and NFOT were held in Tacloban and Ormoc City respectively.

Journalism as education

The NSPC distils into a three-day competition writing and journalism lessons learned throughout the school year. 

The categories range from news and feature writing to photojournalism. There is also a collaborative publication category where a team of students must write, lay out, and produce a 4-page newspaper on the spot using news stories gathered from staged sports events and the NFOT competitions.

Joyce Andaya, Director of DepEd’s Bureau of Secondary Education, said that both competitions are practical applications of what the students learned in school. “One of its goals is to enhance skills and test them against the best of what the rest of the country has to offer.”

“Plus there is the added value of learning and practicing journalistic ethics such as honesty and high regard for truth,” Andaya added.

Since its inception in 1931, the NSPC has produced practicing journalists, some of whom have returned this year as judges or guest speakers. Broadcast journalists Raffy Tima and Julius Segovia of GMA and Johnson Manabat of ABS-CBN are among the more prominent ones in this year’s batch of alumni judges. 
 

Thank you #NSPC2014 for the invite. Enjoyed my talk. Goodluck to all participants. pic.twitter.com/wMXBT79KLh

— Raffy Tima (@raffytima) April 8, 2014

Arts and Technical Skills – essential to the new curriculum

The NFOT is a newer event, with 2014 being only its third year. According to Andaya, “The NFOT is crucial because it recognizes skills and talents other than academic.” Andaya added, “While the NSPC mainly tests writing and critical thinking, the NFOT challenges those with technical-vocational and artistic skills.”

This, Andaya says, is important in light of the K to 12 reforms being implemented by DepEd.

The NFOT is a collection of events that include painting and dancing competitions as well as the “Technolympics” – a series of competitions that test Tech-Voc skills such as landscaping, commercial cooking, welding, and web design, among many others.

“For K to 12’s senior high school we have four tracks: academic, technical-vocational, sports, and arts & design. The NFOT covers both the tech-voc and arts subjects.

In his keynote Luistro also reminded DepEd officials about the SHS tracks, “We need to know what programs, special skills, and special programs we need. In the next three years we have to ‘professionalize’ these skills for senior high school.”

But the bigger challenge, says Luistro, is to anchor these skills and knowledge in the local culture. “Ang ating mga itatayong senior high school ay dapat nakatungtong sa mga katutubong kultura ng mga Pilipino. Ito ang hamon sa ating lahat.”  — DepEd news release