Assessment on the Relationship of the Effectiveness of the Gender and Development (GAD) Programs on the Teachers’ Attitudes and Perceptions Concerning Gender-Related Issues: A Proposed Action Plan

This study was intended to assess the effectiveness of Gender and Development (GAD) programs of the Division of City Schools-Manila and the perceptions and attitudes of the teachers. This study used the descriptive-correlational study to test the relationship of perceptions and attitudes of the respondents on gender- related issues such as gender gap, gender inequality, sexual harassment, gender in curriculum, and gender stereotypes and the GAD programs of the DCS-Manila. The participants in this study were the Social Studies teachers in DCS-Manila. The research survey-questionnaire was the primary instrument used, which was undergone modifications from the experts. One (1) from the Division of City Schools-Manila’s GAD Focal Point System, another, from the Principal of Tondo High School and the Former member of DCS-Manila GAD Coordinators, and lastly, personnel from the Philippine Commission of Women (PCW) before it was distributed to the respondents. After the full implementation of the study, the data gathered was analyzed and interpreted using Pearson-r to determine the significant relationship of GAD Programs of the DCS-Manila and the perceptions and attitudes of the teachers on gender-related issues. The Social Studies teachers assessed the GAD programs of the DCS- Manila and it was revealed to as effective. Regarding on the perceptions on gender-related issues, it was shown that they are aware and knowledgeable about the existing issues in schools. Moreover, the attitudes of the teachers on the gender-related issues are said to be highly positive. However, the results of the testing of relationship of GAD programs and the perceptions and attitudes of the respondents have acquired a low correlation, this means that the GAD programs are effective but limited to the improvement of awareness and point of views of the respondents regarding the gender-related issues. researcher a GAD program that is designed to address the different practices of teachers and schools with gender-related issues in the Division of City Schools-Manila. Moreover, the proposed program can be applied also to all schools of different Divisions in the Philippines to increase the level of perceptions and attitudes of the teachers about the Gender and Development. The program also gives ideas on how to improve the best practices to abolish the gender-related issues found in school.

all men and women in all aspects of society and be free from all forms of discriminations (including sex, races, status, roles etc.). The said declaration is a milestone document in the history of human rights and became the universal standard of achievements of all people and all nations in the world.
People have witnessed the struggle of women in fighting with inequalities in the society that leads to the creation of different laws that protect women's rights. In this sense, the United Nations adapted the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discriminations against Women (CEDAW) in 1979, where it became an international bill of rights for women on September 3, 1981. Such legislation and affirmative action policies have been a big impact to the changes in society. In 1995, the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China became an inspiration for women's legislation in the world. It was principally initiated by the United Nations which produced a declaration of the international community's commitment to the advancement of women and a platform of action that set out measures for action by 2000 (GMMP, 2010).
Seemingly, the Philippines as one of the active members of UN, adopted all its provisions, and the government's effort is very visible to eradicate inequalities or discriminations among men and women, most especially in the field of education. In the Philippine context, the government has expressed its commitment for the first time to uplift women in the society. In the mid-seventies, the Philippine government responded to the UN's declaration of International Women's Year (1975) and the Decade for Women (1976Women ( -1985 with the creation of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) (or Philippine Commission on Women in the present time), acting as the state machinery to make plans and policies concerning women (Torres &amp;del Rosario, 1994). Former President Corazon C. Aquino issued the Executive Order No. 348, known as "The Philippine Development Plan for Women" in February 1989 to comply with the said state-organization. It provides a framework for the development of women in personal, family, economic, political, and socio-cultural and other legal spheres. Also, in 1995, Executive No. 273 or also known as "The Philippine Plan for Gender andDevelopment" (1995-2025) was approved and adopted by former President Fidel V. Ramos. It is a National Plan that addresses, provides, and pursues full equality and development for men and women. It is the successor of the Philippine Development Plan for Women (1989Women ( -1992. In 2009, the government enacted the Republic Act No. 9710, also known as "The Magna Carta of Women," which will recognize the economic, political, and socio-cultural rights of women. This the most fundamental human rights document of the Philippine government that seeks to eliminate all forms of discriminations against women. Equality between men and women signifies that the interests and needs of both women and men are taken into consideration. Regardless of gender, both are important elements in attaining development (Gumba, 2013 in Sumadsad &amp;Tuazon, 2016). Gender approaches emerged in the history that paved its way for the development of gender parity. The liberal approaches became dominant, including the Women in Development (WID), Women and Development (WAD), and Gender and Development (GAD). The Women in Development approach was the first contemporary movement to specifically integrate women to development in a broader sense.
In this study, the researcher examined the theory of individualist feminism. This view holds the idea that every individual has equal rights. Specifically, it opposes the studies under the views of liberal feminism and radical feminism which encourages every woman to be firm in their own lives. In relation to the Gender and Development, the GAD approach has become dominantly acceptable in terms of gender equality. The Gender and Development (GAD) approach focuses on the equalities of men and women and the challenge to abolish the existing gender roles and relations. The major contributors of this approach are the writings of Oakley (1972) and Rubin (1975) who give more emphasis on the relationships of men and women in society. GAD is not concerned on women alone but how the society entrusts the roles and responsibilities to both men and women. GAD has significantly evolved in many ways and was adopted by different countries to uplift the participation of women in all areas of society. It is also used as a guide to successfully abolish the discriminations against men and women.
In lieu of this, the researcher focuses her study on the implementation of GAD programs in the Division of City Schools-Manila and how the teachers assess their perceptions and attitudes towards the said programs. A Memorandum Circular No. 2011-01 dated October 21, 2011, was released addressed to all Government Departments including their attached agencies, offices, bureaus, State Universalities and Colleges (SUCs), Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) and all other government instrumentalities as their guidelines and procedures for the establishment, strengthening and institutionalization of the GAD Focal Point System (GFPS). Moreover, the Department of Education (DepEd) issued Guidelines on the Preparation of Gender and Development (GAD) Plans, Utilization of GAD Budgets and Submission of Accomplishment Reports (DepEd Order 63 series of 2012) that will require the government agencies, state universities and colleges (SUCs), government-owned and controlled corporations, local government units (LGUs) and other government instrumentalities to formulate their annual Gender and Development (GAD) Plans and Budgets. These guidelines on the utilization of GAD Budget and other requirements, would serve as a reference to all GAD Program implementers of DepEd. This study determined the status of the GAD Program of DepEd-Manila through the Input-Process-Output approach. The input is the assessment of teachers on GAD programs and perceptions and attitudes of teachers toward gender-related issues. The process is the validated questionnaires made by the researcher and the output is the proposed strategic plan to improve the GAD programs of DCS-Manila and the perceptions and attitudes of teachers towards gender-related issues. This study aims to identify the effectiveness of GAD programs in the DCS-Manila. Specifically, this study answered the following questions: 1.
What is the assessment of teachers on the effectiveness of GAD programs in terms of: 1.1. Gender mainstreaming mechanisms, and 1.2. GAD Plans and Activities? 2.
What are the attitudes and perceptions of teachers on the following gender-related issues: 2.1. Gender stereotype, 2.2. Gender gap, 2.3. Gender inequality, 2.4. Gender biased on curriculum and instructions, and 2.5. Sexual Harassment? 3.
Is there a significant relationship between the assessment of GAD programs and the attitudes and perceptions of teachers on the gender-related issues? 4.
What strategic plan can be proposed to improve: 4.1. The GAD programs in the Division of City Schools-Manila, and 4.2. The attitudes and perceptions of teachers on gender-related issues? Hypothesis of the Study This study will test the null hypothesis of the problem. Using data gathering and statistical treatment, a decision will be made whether to accept or reject the following hypotheses: Ho. There is no significant relationship between the assessment of GAD programs and the attitudes and perceptions of teachers on the gender-related issues.

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This study is mainly concerned with the assessment of teachers on GAD programs of their school and its effects on their attitudes and perceptions on gender-related issues. The researcher will conduct the study in selected schools in the Division of City Schools-Manila through the fishbowl technique. The participants or subjects of the study are 190 Social Studies teachers. The study will run through the school year 2018-2019.
The researcher chose the Social Studies teachers because she believes that the teachers from Social Studies department have enough background and knowledge on the Gender and Development (GAD) and gender-related issues. Moreover, it is related to the matter of the subject of the Social Studies teachers specially in Grade 10 teachers. Because of the sampling method to be used by the researcher, the scope of the study is limited to the number of participants that supposedly represent the whole population needed in the present study which may affect the findings.
At the end of the study, the researcher proposed a strategic plan to improve the GAD programs and the perceptions and attitudes of the teachers regarding gender-related issues that will be beneficial both to students and teachers in school and to the school administrators and DepEd monitoring officials. However, the researcher also believes that it may not cater the whole Division of Manila because it can be applied to some schools which cannot be to others. The researcher wishes to make the proposed matrix be a basis for improving GAD programs in all schools in Manila that will help to raise awareness regarding Gender and Development and abolish gendered issues in schools.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
After gathering, presenting, analyzing, and interpreting the data, the following findings were drawn: 1.
What is the assessment of teachers on the effectiveness of GAD programs in terms of: 1.1. Gender mainstreaming mechanisms The teachers assessed the GAD programs in the Division of City Schools-Manila in terms of Gender Mainstreaming Mechanisms as effective with the overall mean of 4.12 and a standard deviation of 0.83. Moreover, it was found out that most of the teachers agreed that all Gender Mainstreaming Mechanisms of different schools are effective. 1.2. GAD Plans and Activities It was found out that most of the teachers' assessment on the implementation of the GAD programs in the Division of City Schools-Manila in terms of GAD Plans and Activities is effective with a weighted mean of 3.76 and standard deviation of 1.02. Thus, all the indicators pertaining to the programs are said to be effective. What are the attitudes and perceptions of teachers on the following gender-related issues: 2.1. a. Perception on Gender Stereotype It revealed that most of the selected Social Studies teachers in the Division of City Schools-Manila are moderately agree on the Gender Stereotype which indicates that they have an average level of perception towards the different gender related issues involving gender stereotyping having a weighted mean of 3.33 and standard deviation of 1.23.

b. Attitudes on Gender Stereotype
The over-all weighted mean of the teachers' attitude regarding the Gender Stereotype is 4.59 with a computed standard deviation of 0.78 in the Division of City Schools-Manila and with interpretation of strongly agree.

a. Perception on Gender Gap
The perception of the Social Studies teachers on gender-related issues in terms of gender gap garnered a weighted mean of 2.97 and Standard Deviation of 1.21 with interpretation of moderately agree.

b. Attitude on Gender Gap
The attitude of the Social Studies teachers on gender-related issues in terms of gender gap has a weighted mean of 4.38 and standard deviation of 0.90 with verbal interpretation of Agree.

a. Perception on Gender Inequality
The attitude of the Social Studies teachers in the Division of City Schools-Manila on gender related issues in terms of perception on gender inequality has an over-all mean score of 3.21 and SD of 1.19 with verbal interpretation of moderately agree. Is there a significant relationship between the assessment of GAD programs and the attitudes and perceptions of teachers on the gender-related issues? It was found out that there is very weak significant relationship between the GAD programs in terms of Gender Mainstreaming Mechanisms and the perceptions and attitudes of the respondents in terms of Gender-related issues. Therefore, the decision made was to reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative. On the other hand, it was found out also that there is a significant moderate correlation between the GAD programs specifically, the GAD Plans and Activities, and the perception and attitude of the respondents on the different gender related issues. This implies that the Gender and Development Plans and Activities are effective and has an impact in raising the awareness of teachers in the Division of City Schools-Manila regarding the Gender-related Issues. It was found out too that there is a significant relationship between the GAD Programs and Gender-related Issues. So, the decision made was reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis which stated as there is no significant relationship between the assessment of GAD programs and the attitudes and perceptions of teachers on the gender-related issues.

4.
What strategic plan can be proposed to improve: 4.1. The GAD programs in the Division of City Schools-Manila The GAD programs of the Division of City Schools-Manila are found out effective and has a direct impact on raising the awareness of the teachers regarding Gender and Development and to the gender-related issues in schools. As a result, a strategic plan was proposed by the researcher. 4.2. The attitudes and perceptions of teachers on gender-related issues? The perceptions and attitudes of the Social Studies teachers in the Division of City Schools-Manila on genderrelated issues were found positively well. To establish a stronger attitudes and perceptions towards the genderrelated issues in school, the researcher came up with a proposed strategic plan.

CONCLUSIONS
Based on the findings mentioned in this above, the researcher came up with the following conclusions: 1.
The GAD programs in the Division of City Schools-Manila found effective however, not enough to solve the common issues regarding gender.

2.
The respondents have awareness on the gender-related issues and willing to integrate the knowledge they acquired to promote gender equality inside the school and classroom. 3.
The over-all attitude of the Social Studies teachers in the Division of City Schools-Manila regarding the gender-related issues was strongly positive. However, the findings shows that most of the teacher-respondents were agree that the sexual harassment are not totally encountered, it is important to know the capabilities of schools to handle such issues. 4.
The GAD programs have an impact in the perception and attitude of the teachers. The programs can help to raise awareness and improve the point of view of the teachers regarding the gender equality and genderrelated issues.

5.
There is a significant relationship between the GAD programs in terms of Gender Mainstreaming Mechanisms and the GAD Plans and Activities and the gender-related issues specifically the gender Stereotype, Gender Gap, Gender Inequality, Gender Bias in curriculum and instruction, and Sexual Harassment. 6.
There is a need for improving the GAD programs in the Division of City Schools-Manila and the monitoring of these programs. 7.
There is a need for strategic plan to improve GAD programs in the DCS-Manila and the perception and attitude of the teachers regarding gender-related issues. Proposed Strategic GAD Programs After analyzing the result of the findings, the researcher come up with a proposed strategic GAD Programs as an intervention to create or impose awareness to school personnel and students regarding the importance of Gender and Development (GAD) in school and as well as to help the GAD implementers of DepEd in designing a programs that promote gender equality. Moreover, this strategic proposal aims to increase the level of perceptions and attitudes of the teachers on GAD programs and gender-related issues existing in school. This matrix is only a proposal and subject for approval that will initiate a gender-fair school environment in the Division of City Schools-Manila. It can be used by other schools outside the DCS-Manila as a guide in determining the strengths and weaknesses of their programs regarding GAD and establishing an intervention analysis to improve the weakness areas. Hence, it can be useful and applicable to all schools that need to raise awareness regarding gender parity and GAD.

I. Objectives
The main objective of this proposed matrix is to help the school administrators, teachers, students, and community to raise their awareness on Gender and Development (GAD) and improve their perception and attitude toward gender-related issues. It covers the schools from Division of City Schools-Manila. Moreover, this matrix wishes to ensure that gender equality and women's human rights are fully incorporated into Programs, Plans, and Activities (APPs) of schools as well as in its Annual Improvement Plan (AIP), School Improvement Plan (SIP), and Continuum Improvement Plan (CIP) that will support women empowerment. II. Rationale The 10-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action (New York, 2005) declared that commitments to gender equality were not matched by consistent implementation. Specifically, commitments to gender equality have not been supported financially by national government budgets or through official development assistance. This strategic matrix plan is designed to address this problem.
Pursuant to the Magna Carta of Women and the Philippine GAD Agenda the Division of City Schools-Manila is required to set up a strategic plan to combat the issues regarding GAD. Through different memorandum issued by the Division, the school is authorized to follow the guidelines to improve the visibility of Gender and Development (GAD) and taking seriously the women empowerment.
However, many hindrances and limitations on the GAD programs are facing by the different schools in the country which affect the awareness and attitude of the teachers and the students. These factors should be the focus of the governing authorities to comply with the needs to address issues concerning gender. By constantly planning, monitoring, and evaluating the different GAD programs of schools, we can eliminate the genderrelated issues existing. The teachers and the school administrators have the vital role in achieving the GAD's goal as part of the national sustainable development programs.
In line with this, the proposed strategic plan was made to address the different problems concerning GAD and intervention activities to help the school to eliminate these gender-related issues. It will serve as a guide for planning, monitoring, and evaluating the GAD programs in schools.
III. Parts of the Matrix Plan 1. GAD Objectives This will be the goals of the activities being recommended for the issues that wants to resolve. And help Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.12, No.23, 2021 16 the implementers in guiding which activities best suit for certain gender-related issues.

Client Focused
This is the part of the plan that will serve as the primary beneficiaries of the designed activities. Also, they are the main focus of the plan for they will be the keys to identify if the plans and activities are effective in promoting GAD and avoid gender-related issues. The client focused is composed of teachers, students, school administrators, communities, and other concern governing agencies like DepEd and PNP. 3. Issue Wants to Resolve This will be the reason behind for developing this matrix. Issues are going to be solved by the different activities given that serve as interventions.

Recommended Activity and Duration
The recommended activity is the designed intervention for the identified issues in school with specified duration. This will be the guiding tool to effectively eliminate the issues found in schools and could help the teachers and students to raise awareness and attitude towards gender-related issues. Likewise, on the part of the school administrators, this could help them to analyze and evaluate the results after applying the recommended activities. 5. Proposed Budget The proposed budget for the different activities is mainly come from the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) of the school. In pursuant to the Joint Circular 2012-01 or the Guidelines for the Preparation of Annual Gender and Development (GAD) Plans and Budgets and Accomplishment Reports to Implement the Magna Carta of Women issued by the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) the Department of Education (DepEd) issued the DO 63 s. 2012 or Guidelines on the Preparation of Gender and Development (GAD) Plans, Utilization of GAD Budgets and Submission of Accomplishment Reports. The costing or allocating budget for GAD Plans may be in the form of a separate GAD fund to support the PPAs; as integrated in major programs and projects (PPAs); or as counterpart fund from the official development assistance (ODA) for ODA-funded projects. It is understood that the GAD Budget does not constitute an additional budget over an agency's total budget appropriations, nor a separate five percent (5%) taken from the total agency budget is readily available. The approved issue-based programs, projects and activities arising from research and gender analysis, determine the annual GAD Budget.
From this, the matrix has a total budget of Php 140,000.00 but subject for approval and changes. The proposed budget plan can be allocated differently based on the capacity of the school funds.

Estimated Result
The estimated result is the expected outcome of the recommended activities. This is the tool to measure if the recommended activities are effective in giving aid and answered the issues found existed in school.