Naga schools on ASEAN quiz tilt

By Jam Madrid NAGA CITY --- Wearing ASEAN-inspired attire, 21 elementary pupils and nine Grades 10-12 high school students vied for top honors in the ASEAN Quiz held Wednesday last week at Robinsons Place Activity Center here. Dubbed “ASEAN Academic Forum and Quiz Contest,” the event was spearheaded by the Department of Education (DepEd) Naga City Division in keeping with DepEd Memo 3-2017 which called for “awareness campaign in support of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. As the first ASEAN Quiz Bee in Bicol, contestants were required to undergo lecture prior to the contest proper as the questions to be asked were to be drawn from the lecture conducted. “Contestants need to listen and take notes starting from the keynote speaker up to the last resource speaker because the questions in the quiz will be derived from their lectures. Here, it’s not a contest on how well a student can memorize, but it’s a contest on how well one can take notes from lectures,” Jarme D. Taumatorgo, Araling Panlipunan education supervisor who chaired the event, explained. Coaches of the contestants were then made to submit to the technical committee three sets of questions derived from the lectures for easy, moderate and difficult rounds. The lecturers were Schools Division Superintendent William E. Gando who spoke on the theme “K-12 and the ASEAN Integration; PIA-Regional Director Aida A. Naz who provided an orientation on ASEAN and updates on the Philippines’ chairmanship of the regional grouping; Naga College Foundation president Mario Villanueva who discussed the impact of ASEAN integration on tertiary education and local business; Naga City MetroPESO Investment Servicing Officer Edgar Adoremos discussed on the plans and initiatives of the local government unit of Naga on the possible impact of ASEAN integration in education, local business and job opportunities; and TESDA supervising specialist Shirley Biberes talked about programs of the Philippine government to address job matching. The contest was divided into three rounds – the Easy Round with 1 point for each correct answer; the Moderate Round with 2 points; and the Difficult Round with 3 points for each correct answer. After three rounds, Naga Central School 1 garnered 53 points to grab the top spot in the elementary level, followed by Grandview Elementary School in 2nd place with 40 points, and San Rafael Elementary School in 3rd place with 31 points. In the secondary level, Naga City Science High School also garnered 53 points to bag the championship trophy, with Tinago High School in 2nd place with 45 points; and Carolina National High School with 44 points. City Mayor John Bongat said in his keynote speech that aside from the celebration of the 50th founding anniversary of ASEAN, the holding of the said activity is about preparing to be competitive not only in the country but across the 10 countries of the ASEAN region. The activity was organized by the Araling Panlipunan-Curriculum Implementation Program of DepEd Naga City Division in partnership with Naga City School Board and the Philippine Information Agency.