City of San Fernando, Pampanga—In what seems to be a paradigm shift and even a revolution in the field of teaching and learning, Department of Education Regional Director Malcolm Garma emphasized the need to focus more on other measures of the achievement of learners and not on numerical grades alone.

“We should not focus ourselves on the scores alone, we should focus more on the success indicators that our products, our learners would be in the future. When you apply now in the world of work, what is important now is what you can do, Garma explained.”

This he bared during the Opening Program of the 2017 DepEd Regional Festival of Talents (RFOT), the annual regional competition which consists of skills exhibition in different fields and areas of learning held on January 4 to 6 at the DepEd Regional Office.

“We are now embarking on a different level and spectrum of learning, creating creative schools. What is important now is we teach our schools eventually teach our learners to become creative individuals because creativity fosters intelligence, and activities like this are just manifestations of the creativity of learners,” he added.

With the theme “Celebrating Humanity and Cultural Diversity”, the three-day event aims to enable learners demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concepts and skills learned, enhance competence, and foster camaraderie through healthy and friendly competitions.

The students’ learnings and talents through different product and performance exhibits will be exhibited in the various contests which include the Technolympics, Tagisan ng Talino, Regional Pop Quiz and On-the-Spot Skills Exhibition, Special Program in Foreign Language and Sining Tanghalan Competitions.

The twenty participating schools divisions are Angeles City, Aurora, Bataan, Balanga City, Bulacan, Cabanatuan City, Gapan, Mabalacat City, Malolos City, Meycauyan City, Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, Olongapo City, Pampanga, City of San Fernando, San Jose City, San Jose del Monte, Tarlac Province, Tarlac City, and Zambales.•