Led by Mayor Anthony Villarosa, the municipality of Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro held their very first Education Summit on April 19. Around 120 barangay officials, school administrators, teachers and parents gathered at the Mamburao Central School Gymnasium to discuss the state of education in their community.

Mayor Villarosa was pleased to share that their children can answer 7 out of 10 questions correctly as shown in the grade six NAT (SY 2010-2011) results.  However, he pointed out the inequity in their performance.  The highest achievers got 9 correct answers out of 10 questions while the lowest performers only got 4 out of 10 questions correctly in English.  He emphasized that he brought this up not to find fault rather to encourage everyone to hold the hand of the children who need support so that no child will be falling behind.

The participants actively contributed their opinions and suggestions during the group workshop.  Their output was reported in the plenary session chaired by Dr. Antonio Torralba, Vice Chairman of Synergeia’s Board of Trustees.

During the plenary, a participant gave testimony to the numerous sacrifices teachers make for their students, including paying for their fare out of their own pockets just so that the children will not miss classes.

The summit was concluded with a clear picture of where the children are, a vision of where they would like to be in 3 years, and the Mamburenios’ pledge of commitment to the reading program.