It is true that a little good deed goes a long way.   The partnership with 2Success, Inc. began when Ms. Camille Ocai witnessed the exemplary public service efforts of local government units in an event organized by Synergeia Foundation. She was then a young account executive of the Dusit Thani Hotel when she heard about the good  education governance of Mayors . The memory that stood out with Ms. Ocai was the passion and dedication that they showed in helping children in school.   She promised at that moment to look for ways to support them.

Fast forward to 2018, Ms. Ocai now works at 2Success, Inc. as an Administrative Manager. The company is a software service provider that offers innovative and creative marketing, customer service, product development, software and IT solutions throughout Aisia.   Their office in Makati has 200 employees consisting of specialists from around the world.  As the company was to hold its annual fund-raising activity for the benefit of a charitable institution, Ms. Ocai remembered her ‘promise’ to help Synergeia and the band of mayors who were committed to improve children’s education. 

2Success, Inc. launched its “Coffee for a Cause” Project during the Christmas season.  They sold premium coffee blends to their staff, which otherwise was given for  free during  the rest of the year.  The proceeds reached P206,922.86.  The proceeds will go to the printing of workbooks for the children.  They have chosen the Municipality of San Gabriel, La Union, an active member of the Regional Education Council of Northern Luzon, as their company’s beneficiary. 

Mayor Herminigildo Velasco of San Gabriel was very thankful, for the school children who will receive the workbooks.  The LGU has initially chosen Bumbuneg Elementary School as recipient but other schools will also benefit from the donation.  Bumbuneg ES has the most number of frustrated and instructional readers in the whole of San Gabriel.  Mayor Velasco said the workbooks will help the students motivated in improving their reading skills.  Bumbuneg ES has 262 students from Kinder to Grade 6.   But it only has 9 teachers.    The school caters to 4 sitios, the farthest of which is Sitio Bubor which is  5 km away while the nearest is Sitio Mamleng that is 2 km away from the school.   Some of the children have to walk for 2 hours to go to school and another 2 hours to go home after classes.  Most of the chidren are from IP communities. 

And just like a gift that keeps on giving, 2Success, Inc. has decided to partner once more with Synergeia for its next round of Coffee for a Cause. This time, the beneficiary will be Dilausan Elementary School in Balindong, Lanao del Sur.  

Can one imagine libraries with no books? Or a speech laboratory without power supply to run the speech equipment? Or lavatories that do not have water supply?  Unfortunately, these actually exist in schools in Quezon City. 

The Education Affairs Unit of Quezon City found these out when it did a school visitation program.  The EAU team led by former Councilor Aly Medalla went to the different schools in the city to acquire first-hand information on the physical state of the schools and to interview faculty members, non-teaching personnel and students.  Aside from the unused facilities, there are plenty of minor and major repairs needed like rundown classrooms, broken school desks, leaking pipes and power upgrading.   What they saw became inputs to a robust education program that has been formulated and is being implemented by Quezon City. 

Mayor Joy Belmonte is proud of the Education Affairs Unit she created under the Office of the Mayor.  The EAU coordinates all the education programs of the LGU.  It has a database to track the education performance of students.  It is building an assets inventory system that informs the LGU about assets that require fixing or enables it to validate requests coming from the Division Office.     

Because of the work of the EAU, Quezon City has been able to set its education priorities:  first is to fund the repair and rehabilitation of schools, second is to provide learning materials, and third is to provide SMART TVs with corresponding software for all senior high schools and fix school connectivity. 

It is also because of the EAU’s “fact-finding work” that Quezon City discovered school buildings constructed using congressional funds but without building permits.  Because there were no building permits, the utility firms would not provide electrical and water connection.  The school buildings could not be used and were turned over to the city government.  This led Mayor Belmonte to create a local coordinating council for infrastructure, repair and rehabilitation projects which informs the City Engineering Department on projects that are being proposed and projects that must be prioritized.   The DepEd, DPWH and the Congressmen of the 6 districts of QC are all part of the council.  Mayor Belmonte stressed that, for the sake of the students, all facilities should be in good shape and quality.

The EAU is an education governance innovation that has succeeded in Quezon City and has sparked the interest of other Mayors in the LEARN Council.  A number of them would like to create a similar education unit in their own LGUs.   Mayor Rex Mayor Rex Gatchalian, LEARN Council Chairman, remarked that it is good that LCEs find out what are very good practices worth replicating in their own LGUs. “By taking our good ideas together and executing them properly, we can do great things for every learner and be champions for education.  The bottom line as mayors is to be at the driver’s seat in doing what is best for the children’s education.”   Dr. Milwida Guevara, President and CEO of Synergeia, agreed with Mayor Gatchalian and commented “I am very glad to see the progress and strides that are being made to improve the quality of education.  These programs will greatly impact the students’ learning capacities.”