The Baguio City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, urged the Division of City Schools of the Department of Education to encourage all public schools to organize and establish their school governing councils.
In a resolution, local legislators stated that apart from complying with the existing laws that mandate the establishment of school governing councils, the same is very timely as part of the ongoing strategic recovery initiatives from the debacle caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) where the education sector is one of the most adversely affected.
The council said that whole-of-community approach in support to schools is highly needed in coming up with potent and more responsive measures to robustly sustain the climate of synergy, collaboration and cooperation for smarter and more resilient city public schools.
The body added that organizing school governing councils in all public schools in the city is a vital mechanism for ensuring a faster and smoother transition from the pre-pandemic system to the new normal of learning delivery and that the school governing council is an avenue for shared responsibility among concerned stakeholders guided by a common goal of actively supporting the learning bastion of the young people.
It is the declared policy of the State to protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality basic education and to make such education accessible to all by providing all Filipino children a free and compulsory education in the elementary level and free education in the high school level.
According to the council, such education also include the existing Alternative Learning System (ALS) for out-of-school youth (OSY) and adult learners and it shall be the goal of basic education to provide them with the essential skills, knowledge and values they need to become caring, self-reliance, productive, responsible and patriotic citizens.
Republic Act (RA) 9155, otherwise known as the Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001, gave emphasis to the establishment of a working school governing council and that the establishment of the council intends to promote voluntarism among the members of the education community by proactively supporting the school.
Further, it aims to facilitate active involvement of every sector in the school improvement process.
The council stipulated that a school governing council, as an organized body comprised of those from the education stakeholders, has the authority to actively participate in the resolution of relevant school issues and in decision-making directed towards the continuous improvement of learning and promotion of learners’ welfare.
The stakeholders involved in the school governance council include internal stakeholders, like students or pupil’s organizations, parent’s association and faculty association, while external stakeholders include alumni, retirees, various government agencies, civil society organizations and other social sectors to include professionals, business and other non-government agencies.
The council claimed that school improvement plan, formulation, development and monitoring of implementation are one of the given functions of the school governing council. Likewise, the council is tasked to report the implementation of the plant to the community. By Dexter A. See
