No amount of teacher trainings and school supplies will make a dent to curb the increasing problem in the country’s education system if the community remains indifferent to the situation.
Education advocate Fr. Bienvenido Nebres said a strong community involvement is the key to keeping children in school and solving the problems of the education sector. “It is important to begin by engaging the community,” he said. “They have to own that change.”
During the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding among Synergeia Foundation partners, Department of Education officials, and public school and local government beneficiaries for the Adopt-A-School Program, Fr. Nebres said educational reforms would be for naught if students do not stay in school.
Nebres, Synergeia chairman and president of the Ateneo de Manila University, noted that while education inputs such as teacher trainings, additional classrooms, textbooks and the likes are important in improving education, their data and experiences have shown that community involvement and aggressive school leaders are the main factors to effective and sustainable education reform.
He said data gathered by Synergeia shows how schools with strong leaders and active community assistance have improved tremendously compared to those who have received education inputs but lacking in community effort.
He cited a school in Quezon City that was assessed as No. 94 out of 96 schools in the area. “The principal had a vision to make his school among the Top 20 in next three years so they persevered, came out with a plan and the principal went to then Mayor Sonny Belmonte and presented their plan to him,” he said. “The mayor was very impressed and gave them support; within two years, they were No. 19 in QC. Now, they are No. 9.”
Nebres said it is important to rally the community around the school. “They have to want to change, have dreams for the children and committed to make that change. It may take a process to get going but when everything happens, all the inputs will make a difference.”
Recent data shows that 600,000 out of 2.3 million children who enroll in Grade 1 will drop out before Grade 4. In addition, about 700,000 will not finish Grade 6. About 1.3 million sophomores will not finish high school and only about 30% finish high school.
At the same time, Nebres urged local government officials to put more money into the education system. “We have to remember that 40% of the internal revenue is allocated to LGUs (local government units), so if LGUs use it more for education and the very basic needs, that will make a big difference.”
He said local governments are important in education reform because they also build the schools for their communities. “Schools are built by local governments, not DepEd (Department of Education).”
Nebres added that each stakeholder in the education system should take an active role to lay the proper foundation for change. “The results of everything we’re doing will not come overnight so we need to reach out and cooperate with one another so we can truly make a difference.”
