♪ education in the philippines is facing a grave crisis.

schools are extremely overcrowded with some holding more than 80 students per class. there's a shortage of textbooks, too. >> i didn't know what we need. >> an innovative education program developed by two prominent physicists is now gaining attention. the dynamic learning program or dlp using no textbooks. students are instead handed blank sheets of paper and

assigned specific tasks. they're encouraged to learn independently with minimal instruction. the program has so far been introduced to 300 schools nationwide. >> the dlp is designed to develop to the fullest as far as possible the potential of each child. >> in this episode of "asia insight," we look at the learning program that is contributing to the education crisis in the philippines. manila. the philippine capital. the country's birth rate of 3.1 is one of the highest in southeast asia. this means the population of 95 million is growing at a pace of

more than 1 million a year. schools are struggling to keep up with this dramatic increase in children. this is payatas, an elementary school in manila. at 5:30 a.m., a procession of students starts arriving at the school. the school has a total of 4,600 students. because they can't fit into the limited number of classrooms at once, they are split into two shifts.

but even with the students' divided in this way, the school is permanently crowded. in the sixth grade classes, there are 80 students per classroom. this classroom has been divided into two. this is a measure to limit the number of students per teacher, especially for the younger grades. any available spaces are used as improvised classrooms. in this outdoor area, blackboards are the only partitions. even with such drastic measures, there are still only 30 classrooms to accommodate the 2,300 students in each shift.

teachers have to use microphones in order to be heard. the equipment is aging with the blackboards so worn out, they are almost impossible to write on. leaking pipes fill the classroom was puddles. concentration can be a challenge. some students fall asleep

because they have been at school since before dawn. others just get up and leave when they feel like it. teachers are being stretched to their limits. >> i didn't know what i have to do. >> the population is a problem. there isn't an effect. either the teacher cannot hear. the pupils sit beside them because of the noise. teachers are doing their best to teach the kids the way they are

supposed to teach. >> at noon, the gate is packed with students showing up for the afternoon shift. 2,300 students gon and the same number come out. it's the busiest time for the school. a second grade class is about to begin. the teacher hands out textbooks. students must share in pairs and use the same textbooks as students from the morning session. because the books are in short supply, they have to be kept at

school at all times. sharlene is a second grader at payatas elementary. every day after school, she helps her father with work. she helps sort through the trash he brings home and separates what can be recycled with her brother. after her work is done, she begins doing her homework.

her mother, josephine, understands the importance of her studies. on this day, shirley's homework is to draw an animal. because she can't bring home the textbooks for reference, the cats from the neighborhood will have to serve as a model.

new school buildings have been slated for construction. they will provide payatas elementary with 13 more classrooms, but funding has yet to be secured and there is no concrete schedule. there are approximately 20 million students receiving elementary and secondary education in the philippines. according to experts, the country is in desperate need of 130,000 classrooms and 100,000 teachers.

president akino has pledged to increase the education budget by 20% in 2013. but this still isn't enough and will provide enough for 18,000 classrooms. the rising population only makes matters worse. two prominent physicists decided to provide their own solution. these two recently taught at university of the philippines. in 1999, they took over a rural school where they developed a pioneering teaching system. in recognition of their efforts, they received a prestigious award in 2010 for their commitment for innovative and effective education.

the base for the program is located on bohol island in central philippines. this is a fishing village on the south side with a population of 30,000. the central institute foundation runs a private high school in the center of town. the 600 students are mostly children of fishermen and farmers who graduated from local public elementary schools. even though the school is private, the tuition fee is 50% that of the national average.

christopher is the school's president and victoria, his wife, is the principal. they resigned from the university posts in manila and returned to christopher's hometown to look after his aging mother and also take over the school she was running. at the time, the school was in such poor condition that the couple says they were shocked at what they saw. >> the very poor infrastructure and lack of textbooks and lack of equipment and morale of the teachers was very low and students were not serious with their studies. so, it was a very difficult situation. that's why we felt that maybe we should just close the school. >> but the couple weren't discouraged so easily.

they made a commitment to improve the school. making it their responsibility to give the children the education they deserve, they devised the dynamic learning program or dlp and this video that introduces it. ♪

>> conventional learning methods in the philippines are mostly teacher centered with minimal student activity. the dlp reverses this system completely. instead of using traditional textbooks, the method uses plain sheets of paper called activity sheets. >> we invert the order so it is not teacher first, then student. it is always student first, try to understand and then the teacher comes in for whatever is needed or missing or to stimulate the students to think more. >> so in the dlp, the philosophy is that even with minimal resources and if you have high

targets, you compensate the lack of resources by superior strategy. that's what happened to the dlp. >> teachers are preparing for a first grade class. jonalizae has been teaching science here for seven years. with two assistants, she teaches 150 students split between three classes simultaneously. her assistants specialize in other subjects and are available during this period. classes are 90 minutes long. >> good morning. >> she first entered class a and hands out activity sheets.

she writes on the blackboard what she's prepared beforehand. students copy everything on to their activity sheets. in classes b and c, her assistants follow exactly the same procedure. by writing everything down, students are able to absorb the subject matter and think of questions. about ten minutes after classes begin, students are ready to engage. she begins her brief lecture on today's topic. monsoons.

>> so other countries affected by east asia monsoons are china, japan, korea. >> meanwhile, students from class b head to the library to research the subject by themselves. students from class c have been given the task of drawing a map of the philippines on their activity sheets and showing the movement of monsoons. some refer to the activity sheets they made in previous lessons.

other students bring books from the library to complete their pictures. 30 minutes after the classes began, she heads next door to class b to give the same explanation. >> good morning.

>> by assigning tasks in this way, students can learn autonomously and yet only one teacher is required to teach three classes at once. classes, she checks the activity sheets. students can consult with her and review the material if they need to. finally, the activity sheets become the students hand made textbooks.

the burnidos implemented this program in 2002, three years after taking over the school. the process they used for learning physics while studying in germany was a source of inspiration. >> in that many germany universities at the time in the '80s and '90s, you know you have many issues and you understand and you come up with your own lecture notes. so, i thought, even without specified textbooks, if you have a teacher who can prepare that, then the students have to write and try to understand and then do the exercises. then it might work. >> this is how the idea for activity sheets came about.

the couple worked with teachers to decide the key teaching points from the school's textbooks. they realized it would be impossible for students to transfer everything from the books on to the sheets. the material is constantly being developed and adjusted. it's been ten years since the program was put into practice at the school. the school's test scores now surpass the national average by more than 20 points. in addition, more alumni are now being accepted into the prestigious university of the philippines.

ronald is one such graduate who entered the university of the philippines in 2005. this is the home where he was raised. he comes from a modest background. his father works as a laborer and his mother sells vegetables at the local market. they always hoped that ronald would perservere in his studies and land a good job. these are ronald's activity sheets from high school. when they saw them for the first

time, his parents realized how hard he was studying. after ronald was accepted to the university of the philippines, his parents were overjoyed.

ronald is now a masters' student at the university of marine science institute. he is stuing the effects of volcanic eruptions on plankton in the ocean. in his field work, he sometimes collects samples from the seabed. >> this is the sediment that we took from the marine environment. >> ronald is analyzing the volcanic ash and dead plankton in the sediment. through such experiments, he is hoping to learn more about how volcanos effect marine life in the philippines.

after graduation, he plans to return to his hometown and support the fishing industry there through his research. this is a high school in metropolitan manila. the school has been using the dynamic learning method since 2011. students use activity sheets and follow the dlp policy of no textbooks. >> after getting the work, it is nice we are having our own books. >> it drives us to study harder and understand more our to go b

dynamic learning method. many of our students now are focused in their studies. that is why we are looking for another program to allow our students to learn on their own independently and to learn best. >> the dlp has so far been introduced to more than 300 public and private schools nationwide. and recently, it is finding its way into elementary schools too. as it continues to spread around the country, the dynamic learning program developed by two filipino physicists is providing a welcome solution to the education crisis in the philippines. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

>> also ahead. celebrations in pakistan for the former prime minister, the fighting taliban violence. the polls ino to an election by protest. thousands gathered