Opening Remarks
(PEPA General Assembly, March 15, 2002
Sunrise Holiday Mansion, Tagaytay City)
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We could not find a more opportune time to convene and talk about accomplishments and impending matters that involve our industry than today. School year 2002-2003 is just around the corner and it is important that we prepare ourselves as well as our product lines. What lies ahead in Philippine education and how could we contribute as publisher? How significant will the changes the Department of Education plans to implement and how could this affect PEPA? We cannot downplay the relationship that exist between the Department of Education, orDepEd as it is now called, and the publishing industry.
Dep Ed will be constituting some significant and crucial changes in the Philippine curriculum and it is important that publishers, especially educational publishers, get a good grasp of these changes, or shall we say, developments.
Besides development in reading skills, the new curriculum I heard aims for our youth to be more interactive. With these fast-changing technological times, interaction is the name of the game. Students must learn to interact with their teachers, books, the situation they are in, and the world, if we wish for them to be truly the hope of our future. And then again as publisher, let us give them multi-level learning materials that will allow them to be more interactive.
Readership and interaction: these are just two of the major changes that will take place. More clarification of these matters shall be discussed as our gathering progresses. For sure, we have a lot of information to learn during tomorrow’s activities. So let us prepare ourselves for a proactive discussion and deliberation of issues pertaining to EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS AND THE CHANGING EDUCATION POLICIES.
The DepEd is initiating development and so, too, will PEPA. Together we shall set an atmosphere wherein our youth will discover that learning is imperative as it is enjoyable. Ladies and gentlemen, this is our General Assembly, and this is our time to once again learn from and share with each other
In a little while, we will be honoring those companies who have been in the publishing business for 20 years and more and even our colleagues who have been very cooperative in our Association endeavors. After that, we shall be holding an election of officers,
Your presence is deeply appreciated. Good evening and welcome to the PEPA General Assembly 2002!
