Brigada Eskwela and Adopt a School Program

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.