(JTA) — Davao, the largest city in the Philippines, will use an Israeli curriculum to improve math, science and technology in its public schools.
The city signed an agreement to implement the education model of the Israel Sci-Tech Schools in a collaboration with the support of the Israeli Embassy in the Philippines. The collaboration is also being coordinated through the national Department of Education-Davao City Schools Division and the Pass It Forward Foundation.
The program, called “Excellence in Education: A Lighthouse Project,” will implement Israel Sci-Tech School’s innovative education model in a high school in Davao City that will serve as a model for the rest of the city’s high schools. The changes to the school’s curriculum will include aspects of the network’s programs in innovation, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, as well as full upgrades to its science and technology labs.
The Philippines is the latest country to import Israel Sci-Tech Schools’ educational model. The specialized STEM curriculum – which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics — is also being used throughout Europe and in schools in the United States. Sci-Tech also has been in conversations to form partnerships with additional states in the U.S. as well as school systems in other countries, including China.
The educational model is called I-STEAM. The A stands for arts, and adds an element of creativity and humanities to the curriculum.
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