The Department of Education (DepEd) has entered into a memorandum of agreement with Khan Academy Philippines, a US-based nonprofit educational organization, to utilize their applications and technologies to improve Filipino students’ proficiency in subjects, especially math. Education Secretary Sonny Angara, Undersecretary for Curriculum and Teaching Gina Gonong, Khan Academy PH President and CEO Geraldine Acuña-Sunshine and Trustee and COO Myrish Cadapan-Antonio led the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Agreement held at DepEd Central Office.
By “Filipinizing” the course content and aligning it with DepEd’s official curriculum, the partnership aims to “build foundational skills of learners, including literacy and numeracy skills, and strengthen Reading, Science, and Mathematics programmes through improvement learning materials”.
Atty. Geraldine Acuña-Sunshine, President and CEO of Khan Academy Philippines, is optimistic about the programme’s potential to enhance Filipino students’ performance on international assessments. The 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results revealed that 15-year-old Filipino students lagged behind their classmates from other countries in math, science, reading, and creative thinking. However, this partnership has a promising opportunity to change this narrative.
Secretary Angara stated, “There’s the dream of differentiated instructions. This is what Khan Academy is all about using technology to cater to the needs of the students. He added, “It is an amazing tool, one of an amazing phenomenon partly because of what it does and how it operates. It helps our students, helps our parents, and it helps our teachers.”
Furthermore, the rollout of the partnership will soon enable pilot schools, which will be selected through a set of criteria, to have the first look at Khan PH. DepEd will also provide the translation of the platform’s content to ensure Filipino learners and teachers can maximize the courses Khan PH will offer.
Acuña-Sunshine said, “This can help those teachers teach better, allow a different way for students to take in the subjects and understand it differently.”
To ensure the partnership’s progress and improved outcomes, DepEd will soon finalize learning materials for the Grade 10 MATATAG Curriculum, gauge schools’ readiness for the pilot run of the Khan PH programme, and discuss the limitations of the DepEd Learning Management System (LMS) to accommodate the Khan Academy platform.
The signing programme was also attended by members of the Khan Academy PH, DepEd Executive and Management Committees, and other education stakeholders.
With practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard, Khan Academy doesn’t just teach, it empowers learners to take control of their education. Students can study at their own pace, both in and out of the classroom. Covering subjects from kindergarten through early college, including math, science, reading, computing, history, art history, economics, financial literacy, SAT, MCAT, and more, the platform focuses on skill mastery to help learners build the strong foundations they need to succeed in higher education and in their careers.
