ESSU Main Campus' Graduate School, through the Training and Extension Services Office (TESO), hosted an entire delegation from the DepEd Schools Division of Eastern Samar on Friday, February 14, 2025, at the Teatro Ibabawnon for an orientation and official launch of the Extension Project TUL-ID.
Graduate School's core faculty member and RDSO Assistant Director, Dr. Riomar G. Obliopas, led the orientation, providing a total discussion of the program's nature and scope, with the teachers and school heads in the entire Eastern Samar Division as the beneficiaries. For their part, ESSU will tap its internal pool of experts in various fields, along with its partners, to provide technical upskilling assistance to teachers and school heads, essentially transferring their skills in research writing, publishing, and translating results into educational reforms.
As a basis for this extension project, DepEd Order 19, or the Merit Selection Plan of DepEd, series of 2022, highlights research and innovation as key achievements for teachers and school heads, offering a competitive advantage in their promotion process.
Furthermore, the Basic Education Governance Act of 2001 and the Basic Education Research Agenda (BERA), adopted by DepEd in 2016, have emphasized the role of research in managing the basic education system. DepEd teachers are mandated to delve into scholarly works, publish findings, and use them for informed decision-making and program formulation.
While research in the basic education sector nationwide has gained traction in recent years with the aforementioned legislations and policies, compliance with these mandates has been quite lax in the DepEd Eastern Samar division. It is precisely this need that the project intends to address.
TUL-ID is the acronym given for Technical Upskilling via Ladderized, Intensive, and Multi-tiered Dynamic Approach to Research Capacity Building. In the Binisaya local language, more popularly known as Waray-waray, Tul-id means "to guide" or "to mentor." Related words include "instruct," "enlighten," and "nurture." This project aims to develop research competence in basic education teachers and school heads through mentorship, capacity development, and training.
All in all, the orientation and project launch earned remarks of excitement from the participants who expressed their eagerness to get the mentorship going and start a lasting partnership with ESSU.
