The Province of Iloilo pioneers an innovation project that will test the wherewithal of LGUs to be at the frontier of its education needs and long-term goals.

Together with 11 LGUs, the DepEd, DILG, and the Local School Boards or LSBs, it embraced the Proof-of-Concept (POC) initiative, supported by Synergeia in partnership with EdCom 2 chaired by Senator Angara.

It braved demands and expectations of the POC’s hypothesis on the capability of the Province to demonstrate how strengthening LSBs, community participation and decentralization of certain provisions in the delivery of basic education can result in:

a. Every Grade 3 child can read well in English and Filipino;

b. Increase in creative and thinking ability of children;

c. Improvement in the performance of principals and teachers;

d. Community engagement in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of education programs; and

e. Use of performance budgeting in the disbursement of Special Education Funds by the LSBs.

In her presentation on the POC during the first organizational and planning meeting in Iloilo City, Synergeia’s Founding President,  Dr. Milwida Guevara detailed the functions to be assumed by the LSBs and the school community covering the needs assessment and post-testing of children, teachers and parents, the development of approach and strategies in the teaching of reading, the development and procurement of reading materials, the training of principals, teachers and parents and the implementation of learning activities of children.

Dr. Guevara noted that the devolution experiment is a big step forward to affirm the LGU’s capability to rethink, rewire, and redo the implementation of basic education that is aligned with the real needs and demands of the communities in the LGUs.