The City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, approved on first reading a proposed ordinance institutionalizing the Barangay Pabasa program, defining its purpose and appropriating funds for its implementation.
Under the proposed ordinance authored by councilors Vladimir Cayabas and Rocky M. Aliping, institutionalizing the Barangay Pabasa in the city will strengthen the city government’s commitment in supporting the national government’s education agenda as educational investment on the youth yields the best and highest interest.
Earlier, Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara underscored the importance of collaboration to drive the progress of the country’s education system needs and deserves. Educational collaboration is best practice if the barangays, being the basic political units, are empowered and actively involved.
The ordinance stated that the Barangay Pabasa program intends to serve as a complimentary tool to promote the fun of reading while addressing reading deficiencies among the youth within the city’s barangays. It is a support learning system to compliment the already existing reading programs of the education department by extending and expanding it down to all barangays in the city. It will be a barangay initiative reading program in collaboration with the education department, the local government and other education stakeholders. It covers youth within the barangay who have been identified as non-readers or frustration-level readers by the barangay education committee, or their school teachers if applicable and or the education department’s reading focal staff.
The ordinance mandated the creation of the Barangay Pabasa Advisory Committee at the city level tasked to ensure the proper implementation of the primary purpose of this initiative which shall be composed of the president of the Liga ng Mga Barangays as Chairperson and the Social Services Division (SSD) head as Vice Chairperson. The members of this committee will be a representative from the City Schools Division Office, Sangguniang Kabataan Federation (SKF) president, Association of Barangay kagawad president, Chairperson of the City Council Committee on Education and two representatives from civil society organizations accredited by the city government.
Among the functions of the committee are to take the lead as an advisory body to all barangay Pabasa advocacy teams and to make sure of the program’s proper and smooth implementation; take the lead in organizing general orientation, capacity building and training sessions for barangay reading camp volunteers; take charge in collaborating with the education department serving as the program’s primary partner in terms of training barangay reading camp volunteers and other technical support as needed; submit to the local chief executive reports on the implementation of the program and may recommend to the city council legislations relative to the program for possible adaptation; come up with a system of assessing the collective and overall success rate of the program and perform such other related functions for the full realization of the proposed ordinance.
The ordinance mandated the creation of a working and advocacy body to be known as the Barangay Pabasa Advocacy Team which will be tasked to promote in the barangay level and implement the primary purpose of the program which shall be composed of the Punong Barangay as Chair with the Chairperson of the Barangay Education Committee as Co-Chairperson.
The ordinance stipulated that funding for the implementation of the Barangay Pabasa program shall be charged against the Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) budget.
However, an annual appropriation of PhP350,000 shall be charged against the city’s Special Education Fund or from the city government’s general fund under the education department subject to the regular government accounting and auditing rules and regulations. By Dexter A. See
