UNIVERSITY OF RIZAL SYSTEM

Antipolo Campus
College of Education
2 ND Semester,
AY 2019-2020

Course: ED4 - FSIE Group Report No: 6

Section: BEED 2 Group Topic: MECS, DECS & DepEd
Instructor: Mr. Marck Ferdinand A. Aguilar Series/Memo/Order
Group Members:
PEVIDAL, Ressa – Leader
Members:
AVILA Cindy
CORSINO Mary Ann
ESTREBOR Cindy
I. Topic Title: MECS, DECS & DepEd Series/Memo/Order
II. Introduction
UNESCO (2005) cited that inclusive schools, children with special educational needs should receive
whatever extra support they may require to ensure their effective education. Inclusive schooling is the
most effective education, the most effective means for building solidarity between children with special
needs and their peers. Special needs education varies enormously from one country to another. The
growth of special education in the Philippines has been given a good support by the government by
simply creating and implementing law that response to the needs and challenges faces by the children
with disability. One of it is the implementation of Republic Act 7277, otherwise known as the Magna
Carta for Disabled Persons, an Act providing for the rehabilitation, self-development and self-reliance of
disabled persons and their integration into the society. To fully execute those law the Ministry of
Education, Culture and Sport(MECS), Department of Education, Culture and Sport(DECS) and the
Department of Education(DepEd) issued a memorandum order to be passed down from national to
regional to division to the school in extending and strengthening of the implementation of the Special
Education to the distant area in which the person with a disability is encourage to study. Also, to give an
incentive to the teacher and principal who put an effort in implementation and facilitating the Special
Education in the school.
III. Discussion
One of the Memorandum Order issued is the DECS Order 14 series 1993 entitled “Regional Special
Education Council” an order that aims to make communication faster among the regional and division
offices, along with other Government and Non-Government agencies to correspond to the urgent
promoting of the special education so Regional Special Education Council (RSEC) is created in the
absence of the education supervisor for Special Education. RSEC is responsible for formulating and
coordinating of the implementation of policies, plans and programs in special education in the region and
organizing a team who will serve as the trainer for the teachers in handling a student with disability and
planning instructional materials that will suit for the need of the students with disability to ensure the
enough knowledge and learnings that will deliver to the students. RSEC must be organized by the
Regional Director, If Juan wants to become a member of RSEC he must be one of the representatives
from any promotional divisions: Elementary, Secondary, Higher, Nonformal, Technical and Vocational,
and Physical Education and School Sport. If Juan is the education supervisor in charge of SPED then he
should be a member of the council. If Juan is a director or head of other GO’s or one of the major Ngo
which is actively involved in the education of children with special needs then he can be invited as a
member of the council. If Juan is a member of RSEC and have a training and experience in the
organization and supervision of Special Education programs then he can be elected by the council as the
chairman or vice-chairman.
It is important to be able to address the increasing demand of children with special needs in the lack of
trained SPED teachers. Through the directive all school divisions throughout the country are required to
organize at least one SPED Center in each school division which is according to the DECS Order 26
series 1997 entitled “Institutionalization of SPED Programs in All Schools” it institutionalizes the
provision of equal educational opportunities to children with disabilities through special needs education.
In which SPED Center will serve as the resource center for inclusion that will provide access to Basic
Education among children with special needs in collaboration with the regular schools that will
continuously conduct an assessment of the children with special needs in the school division where it is
located and to provide in-service training to SPED teacher on the "why" and "how" of inclusion and as
well as other educational trends and practices relevant to children with special needs. SPED Center will
innovate the delivery of educational services to children with special needs and promote mainstreaming or
integration of children with special needs into regular classes. This is a "school within a school" since it is
established in a regular school, administered by a principal and operated according to the rules and
regulations that govern a regular school. The aim of this memorandum order is to provide children with
special needs with an appropriate equipment and produce appropriate teaching materials suited for their
needs and to support children with special needs included in the regular classroom in collaboration with
the regular teachers. In instance, Anna is a student of Maligaya Elementary School she is limp. Her friend
Karen is a typical student, they are classmate and they have the same teacher but the teacher gives Anna
different activity sometimes which is suited to her needs.
The rapid growth of Special Education caused many SPED trained teachers left the service in favor of a
better pay offered by the schools abroad or some is easily get promoted to higher positions. One way of
holding back teachers from leaving their jobs is to provide incentives and welfare benefits so the
Department of Education Culture and Sports issued DECS Order 5 series 1998 entitled “Reclassification
of Regular Teacher and Principal Items to Special Education (SPED) Teacher and Special School
Principal” it authorizes the implementation of salary grades for SPED teachers and special principals as
contained in the Revised Compensation and Position Classification System in the Government Act. It
articulates among others the need to reclassify regular teacher and principal to special education teachers
and principal. In other words, salaries of regular teachers who are actually providing educational services
to children with special needs are upgraded 3 grades higher than the salary grade the teacher is receiving.
For example, Teacher A is a SPED teacher so he/she receives a higher salary than teacher B which is a
regular teacher in the same school. It is only right to upgrade the salary rate of the SPED teacher because
it is hard to teach and handle student with special needs and to compensate for the effort they give in
teaching.
In line with the thrust on access to quality education the Department of Education issued DepEd Order 6
series 2006 entitled “Policies and Guidelines for Special Education at the Secondary Level” states that all
division shall organize SPED programs in secondary schools where are identified learners with special
needs. For instance, in San Isidro National High school in Antipolo they accept students either normal or
with special needs in the same classroom.
The DepEd issued DepEd Order 72 series 2009 entitled “Inclusive Education as Strategy for Increasing
Participation Rate of Children” to address the problem in implementing the Special education because
most of the children with special needs who live in rural and far flung area don’t have access to education
so this memorandum order is issued to inform the parent of the children with special needs that they
children must receive appropriate education within the regular or inclusive classroom setting. Also to
inform parents on the Inclusive education which embraces the philosophy of accepting all children
regardless of race, size, color, ability or disability with support from school staff, students, parents, and
the community because we are all equal and everyone has rights to learn and educate regardless of their
status or situation. Everyone should be accepted in the community and in society.
Lastly is the DepEd Order 29 series 2018 entitled “Policy on the Implementation of Multi-Factored
Assessment Tool” which aims to assess Grade 1 learners enrolled in regular schools, who may exhibit
developmental advancement or delays or have manifestations of learning disability so the teacher can
provide education services and design an instruction materials appropriate for the needs of the student
with special needs. For example, Jordan is hyper and he catches everyone attention in class. His teacher
noticed his behavior so his teacher looks for his background and find the reason why he behaves like that
and consult Jordan’s parent about him. In this aspect, if Jordan was proven as student with special needs
then the teacher should have instructional materials appropriate for LSENs students like Jordan.
IV. Conclusion
Those Memorandum Order above is very importance in the development of Special and Inclusive
Education in the Philippines without them the SPED won’t be successful because those memo is the key
in informing the school from far area in which it gives equal opportunity to student with disability and
other student to show their full potential and to utilize their right to education that they could avail. It
innovates the delivery of educational services to children with special needs and promote mainstreaming
or integration of children with special needs into regular classes. The order strengthens the Special
Education here in the Philippines by organizing council and programs that will address and to provide
intervention and the problem in LSENs suited to their needs.
V. References used
• Inciong, T.G. (2001) Current Efforts in Inclusion and Directions of Persons with Mental
Retardation”
• Inciong, T.G. (2003,) Country Report: Empowerment and Full participation of People with Mental
Retardation: The Philippine Experience”
• Inciong, T.G. “The Development of Welfare and Education for Children with Mental Retardation
towards Inclusion: The Philippine Experience”
• Ebol S. “PHILIPPINES”
• Ocampo N. (2016) “Rights of the special child”
INTERNET SOURCE
• https://www.deped.gov.ph