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Multiply-Ed (X-Ed), an accountability initiative on education by the Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking (CYAN) and Government Watch (G-Watch), has initiated a series on workshops on transparency, participation and accountability (TPA) involving members of the selected School Governance Councils (SGC) all over the country.
Department Order 26 series of 2022 dated June 17, 2022 issued by the Department of Education sets the implementing guidelines for the establishment of the School Governance Councils (SGCs) in all public schools. According to the said guidelines, the SGC is
“a forum where interna] and external stakeholders convene and collaborate to address school concerns and help improve school performance. It promotes stakeholders' involvement, empowers community members to take ownership of the decisions made, and encourages expansion of existing networks in the schools.”
The SGCs are “overarching consultative and coordinating bodies” in schools premised on School-Based Management and rights-based education approach. The SGCs, therefore, are mechanisms for transparency, participation and accountability at the school level with multi-stakeholder representation and consultative and collaborative processes.
The Multiply-Ed SGC workshops for TPA have four objectives:
The first workshop was held in Cotabato City in Mindanao on September 17 and 18. It gathered 74 participants representing 22 schools from various parts of Mindanao. It included 18 teachers, 15 school heads, 30 students and 11 parents.
The second workshop was held two weeks later on October 4 and 5, which was attended by five schools from Pasig City. A total of 35 participants attended this second leg of the SGC TPA workshops, composed of five students, six parents, three school heads, two alumni association officers, five teaching personnel, five non-teaching personnel, three local government officials, five DepEd personnel, and one representative from civil society.
This was followed by the third workshop in Puerto Princesa on October 7 and 8, which gathered 28 School Governance Councils. The event brought together 116 participants that included 19 school heads, 9 DepEd officials, 19 parents-teachers association (PTA) officers, and 38 teachers.
The last workshop was held on October 14 and 15, with SGCs composed of 10 schools from both Cebu City and Cebu province. It was able to gather 48 participants, five of whom came from the DepEd Regional Office and the Cebu City District Office.
The topics covered in the workshops include: what are the SGCs, SGC functional indicators, strategic accountability, relevant TPA mechanisms, including classrooms construction monitoring tools and approaches and tools on advocacy and engagement. The SGCs were also able to come up with plans to strengthen TPA in their schools and address needs and gaps in their schools through the SGCs.
During the said workshop, Multiply-Ed also launched the first-ever “SGC Award” that aims to recognize model SGCs – those that are able to perform well in helping their schools and advance TPA. The award will be given next year, along with efforts of X-Ed to continue engaging SGCs as part of the growing X-Ed coalition.
(Photos courtesy of Multiply-Ed)