MIMAROPA

Palawan aims for a strong public-private partnership in education

By Victoria Asuncion S. Mendoza

Tuesday 29th of May 2012

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan, May 28 (PIA) -- The provincial government of Palawan is aiming to build strong public-private partnerships and linkages with the creation of “Ensuring Quality Instruction Program for Palawan (EQUIP)” under Executive Order (EO) No. 19 issued recently by Palawan Governor Baham Mitra.

The establishment of EQUIP is in partnership with the Department of Education-Provincial Office, the alliance which recognizes the need to combine efforts and pool resources to address the needs of the local education sector.

As stated in the EO, EQUIP hopes to bring relevant, effective, and efficient reforms and intervention programs to attain the desired targets of both the DepEd and the provincial government.

The EO recognizes that building strong partnerships and linkages among stakeholders such as the parents-teachers associations, business sectors, civic and non-government organizations, private individuals, and other members of the civic society as a strategy to bring about enhanced delivery of services.

To implement EQUIP, seven components were created. These are Aral, Basa, Masaya (ABM): A Reading Summer Camp which hopes to enhance the reading skills of students during vacation time; Ang Karunungan Bigay ng Mother Tongue (AKBM) which will develop instructional materials in local dialect; Parent Mentoring Program which seeks participation of parents of grade 1 students in values education.

Other components of EQUIP are Balik Eskwela Campaign encouraging drop-outs to return to schools; Adopt-a-School Program which taps business sector and private individuals to support specific projects and activities in schools; and Capability Building of School Heads and Teachers.

The program is to be headed by Daisy Atrero, Provincial Information Officer and concurrent head of Provincial Education Enhancement Program. The EO also provided for the funding of the program which shall be taken from the budget allocation of the Bright Child Program. (LBR/VSM-PIA 4B, Palawan)