Partnerships that Make Good Education Governance Work

Counting over two decades of quiet, persevering work to transform leaders and communities into champions of education through effective and efficient governance, Synergeia Foundation and its partners enter a new phase of their crusade of hope for the Filipino child.

School Governing Council (SGC) workshop at Solano, Nueva Vizcaya.

The convening of the 14th Washington SyCip National Education Summit, Synergeia Foundation last March marks the Synergeia community’s readiness to take this fight to unexplored territory, a.k.a. the New Normal, confident in the synergy forged through the years among stakeholders from government and private institutions.  

Facing up to challenges as one community however is nothing new. Encapsulated in the motto Isang Puso, Isang Pamilya,the beloved Filipino value of bayanihan has proven to be a major factor behind the Foundation’s achievements thus far.

Since 2013, the Synergeia network has expanded its reach through its partnership with the USAID’s Education Governance Effectiveness (EdGE) project, an initiative that seeks to improve the reading skills of a million early grade students in the Philippines. Starting off with a modest band of some 60 pioneering local government units (LGUs), Synergeia has since conducted close-to 450 education summits and made a difference in the lives of over three million children, 14,000 educators, more than 18,000 officials and administrators, and some 8,000 Parent-Teacher Associations.

Further, Synergeia and partners have been at the forefront of rebuilding efforts at the height of the country’s worst crises: in 2013, they came to the rescue of areas hard-hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda, restoring schools and providing learning material to children. In 2017, during the Marawi crisis, Synergeia was there to offer psychosocial support, remedial learning, and safe learning spaces to over 80,000 children displaced by the five-month siege.

With the same determination and resilience, the downward pull of present-day circumstances may have slowed down but not prevented upstanding LGUs from navigating their way to providing a learning environment that best suits the “Now” Normal lifestyle of the students, parents, and teachers in their localities.

Thus, the year’s Summit theme, “Learning from Our Best to Defy Gravity.”

In 2020 alone, at the height of the lockdowns spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, Synergeia assisted close to 20,000 parents and over 10,000 teachers to adjust to the new learning modalities with the support of its over 441 LGU partners and donors.

The awarding of the prestigious Seal of Good Education Governance (SGEG) likewise takes on special significance. Every year since 2017, an average of 20 LGUs are honored for their outstanding efforts at raising the quality of basic education in their localities through good governance. This year, the 27 that were honored with the SGEG, stand as a continuing testimony to how bayanihan fuels the collective push for a better future for the country’s youth, “from the bottom, up.” A show of strength and commitment to go on auto-pilot to sustain and spread the good work already begun.

Group photo from the Municipality of Concepcion, Iloilo, a three-time awardee of the Seal of Good Education Governance (SGEG) awards.

As two-time SGEG awardee, Hon. Juan Carlos Medina, mayor of Vigan City, aptly puts it, “This is not an award for any one person. This is an award for the whole community. And we could not have done it without the support of our partners. Kung hindi tayo nagtutulungan, hindi namin magagawa lahat ito.”

It is said that no one emerges from a crisis unchanged. One thing for sure, the transformative leadership fostered by Synergeia promises to give rise to a new breed of champions capable of taking on the education challenges posed by the new world order.

“But for our children to fly and defy gravity, we, their elders must also strip ourselves of anything that pulls us down,” affirmed Synergeia Foundation President and CEO Dr. Milwilda Guevarra. “To take our movement to the next level, we must continue rising above differences in beliefs, ideals, and affiliations, driven by one vision and focused on one goal: a better future for our children and, ultimately, for our nation.”

SGEG Pledge Batch 2

Synergeia partner LGUs roll out workshops to revive, strengthen School Governing Councils

Forty-six schools joined SGC workshops in Bolinao, Pangasinan

By Manolo Serapio Jr.

Teachers, parents, barangay officials and other education stakeholders in Northern Luzon teamed up to conduct in-person workshops to revive and strengthen School Governing Councils, one of the most efficient tools in communities to help children learn in the middle of a pandemic.

SGCs help create school policies and programs that benefit learners and they take part in crafting school improvement plans to boost the quality of learning in an educational institution.

Their role has become more crucial in ensuring that learning continues during a global health crisis despite the closure of schools. Many SGCs across the country have helped in the distribution of learning modules to students and mentoring of those in need.

Before the pandemic, Synergeia Foundation teams would conduct the SGC workshops. This time, Synergeia, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development, “capacitated local facilitators so that they can do the training themselves in platforms that work for them – clustered and in batches – to comply with health protocols,” said program officer Ningning Doble.

Prior to the rollout, Doble and fellow program officer Eduardo Tiongson held a webinar in early May to train SGC leaders and members in Northern Luzon to facilitate their own workshops to strengthen SGCs in their municipalities.

Shortly after that, 10 local government units in the region conducted their own SGC workshops in person but with strict compliance to health and safety measures.

Doble said the workshops, initiated by the Northern Luzon Education Council, surpassed her expectations.

“Both facilitators and participants found the workshops enlightening, motivating and inspiring,” she said. “It was a great opportunity to touch base and get going with their plans to make learning happen despite the challenges of distance education.”

SGC revival

A team of teachers facilitated four workshops in Bolinao, Pangasinan – the first time teachers handled the seminars in Synergeia’s history. One of them was Grade 7 teacher Brijeth Carolino who admits she only learned how an SGC functions during the Synergeia webinar last month.

Carolino said the workshops were very productive. “It made participants realize that SGCs exist and are not mere decorations and it pushed many of them to revive their respective SGCs,” she said.

Unlike Parent-Teacher Associations, SGC members and officers need not have their own children enrolled currently in a school for them to be part of that school’s SGC.

SGCs also have a bigger remit and responsibility. In some local government units where the SGCs have joined together or federated, the chair of the SGC federation sits in the Local School Board which has access to the Special Education Fund.

The workshops also became an avenue for participants to express their concern over the lack of learning facilitators in some homes. Two grandparents, in separate seminars, said they have been struggling with mentoring their grandchildren, said Carolino. That prompted other participants to offer options such as creating a team to address problems like these, she added.

In all, SGCs from 46 schools joined the workshops in Bolinao, the first Synergeia-led activities in the municipality, with support from Mayor Alfonso Celeste and District Supervisor Ruth Caalaman.

“I admire the courage of these teachers for taking on this challenge with much enthusiasm,” said Doble.

‘Spirit of volunteerism’

In Reina Mercedes, Isabela, 15 schools participated in the workshops, divided into three batches.

“We from the Department of Education are very happy because we can see that organizing SGCs in our schools would be very useful. That’s why we supported the program of the mayor and Synergeia,” said District Supervisor Robert Pamittan.

     A participant posts idea cards during an SGC workshop in Reina Mercedes, Isabela.

  

The workshops increased the awareness of school heads and other stakeholders  about SGCs, he said. Pamittan told his school heads to reorganize their respective SGCs so they could take part in mapping out the next school improvement plans.

“With functional SGCs, teachers need not be beggars anymore because the spirit of volunteerism is alive,” he said.

As front line workers in the field of education, many teachers have put themselves at risk of contracting Covid-19 as they have to physically report to schools on some days and visit homes of learners in need of aid.

Pamittan contracted Covid-19 along with two other district supervisors, who unfortunately succumbed to the disease. Pamittan says he is now fully vaccinated.

The workshops were made possible through USAID’s Education Governance Effectiveness (EdGE) program with Synergeia which concluded in May.

Launched in 2013, the EdGE program has reduced the number of frustrated student readers in the Philippines by 56%. It has also reached more than 3 million learners, 14,000 educators and 18,000 officials and administrators.

   A participant speaks at an SGC workshop in Agoo, La Union.

                    

Twenty two schools joined the workshops in Agoo, La Union, said Nilo Haloot, an architect who heads the federation of SGCs in the municipality.

With mostly functional SGCs, Agoo is a two-time recipient of Synergeia’s Seal of Good Education Governance. During the workshops, participants who belonged to vibrant SGCs shared some of their experiences with those that needed to restart and reorganize, Haloot said.

“Many SGCs have become more active during the pandemic. Teachers can’t cope with the school work and they need the support of SGCs,” he said.