Mainstreaming in the Senior High School Classrooms at Legazpi City National High School

Abstract

Education is a basic human right. This is expressly stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and reiterated by the 1987 Philippine Constitution. As the agency of the government in charge of managing the educational system in the Philippines, the Department of Education has issued department orders to ensure that this basic human right to education is upheld especially to learners with disabilities. That is why inclusive education was introduced to the Philippine education system. One method of inclusion is the concept of mainstreaming in the classroom. Mainstreaming is the method of placing learners with disabilities to a regular classroom setting together with regular students giving them the same access to knowledge and the same environment to grow into. Legazpi City National High School (LCNHS), formerly Pag-asa National High School, implements mainstreaming in the classroom. Among the best practices in the school are: Integration of Sign Language; Project LCD-FILE (LCD for Interactive Learning Experience), and; Lesson Contextualization. The objectives of best practice implementation are: To expose the mainstreamed learners to a more diverse social environment; To achieve a high passing rate for National Certification; and to provide more employment opportunities for the mainstreamed learners. The best practices indeed contributed to exposing the mainstreamed learners to a more diverse environment which allowed them to grow and hone their potentials; secured them a National Certificate, and; gave them more opportunities for employment.