PSDS
Eddie Lumayag and PSDS Cecille Cartilla, (Secondary Schools Lead Principal
Roger Banogbanog) Other principals and School heads, Lead Brigada Eskwela
Coordinators, School Brigada and Adopt a School Program Coordinators for
Elementary and High School… Teachers, and friends… Good morning!
Thank
you for inviting me! For that, your lunch is free… J
My
message today focuses on Strong School Governance…by encouraging you to partner
with everyone who can help us in our schools.
Last
August, a professor from the Department of Sociology of Ateneo de Manila, Dr.
Emma Porio, came to Dalaguete to answer the question, “What is in Dalaguete
that that makes her education work?”
Her research involved the cities and municipalities who
partnered with the Synergeia Foundation. Our Elementary schools yielded
commendable results which she shared in the National Education Summit on
September 8 at Philippine International Convention Center…
Her Thesis was:
Empowering LSB, SGC, teachers, parents, and community
partners through organization, meetings trainings, camps, and summits built the
social capital
The
Power of Community
We must
learn to embrace the power and opportunities offered by decentralized and
community-based educational leadership.
The
need and demand has never been clearer. National educational failure remains
one of the largest contributors to poverty, with about 44% of poor households
being headed by individuals who did not finish elementary school. And the
immediate future demands immediate action: for every 100 students who enter
Grade 1, almost one-third (32 pupils) will drop out by Grade 6.
Making
sure that children finish their primary education is a necessary step in ending
the cycle of poverty, but this challenge is too big to be shouldered solely by
individual schools and the Department of Education. A model that creates
powerful and effective partnerships between local governments, schools, and
communities is the key to success. We need to partner with people and
institutions.
Today,
we are having the Brigada Eskwela and Adopt a School Program of DepEd. These
are important programs which can help us develop the partnership I am stressing
out.
“To
quote the late DILG Secretary and Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo: ‘Kapag
maraming may-ari ng problema, maraming tutulong.’ And
this is what decentralizing education is all about—allowing the entire
community to have the authority, responsibility, and resources to assure that
our kids get the quality schooling they deserve. Stakeholders learn first hand
what the educational challenges are and they work together to solve them.”
In one of the breakout sessions during the National
Education Summit last September 7-9, The discussion on Public-Private Sector
Partnerships in Education with our panelists from SEAOIL, Hyundai, Dept. of
Finance, and DepEd were asked, “When do private partners respond to letters
asking for donations?”
Their answers are:
- The
term donation is a passe (Old-Fashioned/obsolete).
- We
are not dole out machines. Asking a few chairs or one laptop, does not appeal
to us.
- We
want to be the school’s strategic partner through and through. We want to share
your purpose.
- We
choose schools who show us what their plans are, and how we can complement
their efforts in a long term basis.
- The
letters should be short, and it should give the desired outcome clearly.
WHEN YOU WANT TO ENGAGE IN A PPPs through the Brigada
Eskwela and Adopt a School, you need to…
u List
down private institutions/individuals who have/will help/ed the school
(donations, feeding, etc)
u Document
partnership through MOU/MOA (Parties, Name of Project, Terms of Reference,
Effectivity/Time Frame, and Signatories)
u Documenting
PPPs is:
ü To
serve as proof of partnership existence
ü To
ensure fulfillment of promises
ü To
fill the gap of verbal or handshake agreement
ü To
be assured of formality
ü To
help the private partner to claim tax incentives
My dear friends, Education is everyone’s responsibility…
It takes a village to educate a child.. If we could successfully encourage,
establish, and develop ties with education partners, we would reach our dream
of ensuring that the next generation who are to replace us, are better than us.
Thank you, and good morning once again.
