Every Sarangan child has the right to education

By APRIL JANE C. UGSAD

ALABEL, Sarangani (May 30, 2014)- The Resilience and Change for children and families in Mindanao (REACH Project), an educational project under Plan International Inc., has partnered with the Department of Education (DepEd) in Sarangani to extend help in educating Sarangan children who are not enrolled.

“Hopefully, we can fill in the gaps of education in every barangay in the province,” said Gov. Steve Chiongbian Solon in an answer to the open discussion during the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)-signing with Plan International Inc. at the Capitol gym Wednesday (May 28). The theme was “REACHing-Out Children in Mindanao.”

REACH targets to support the provinces of Maguindanao and Sarangani since they are among the poorest provinces listed by the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) in 2009.

In Sarangani, some children reportedly could not go to school because of certain factors affecting education like poverty, far distance from schools, lack of interest of child and parents, child labor, among others.

Plan Inc., with the support of the provincial government, however, has an innovation to implement Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM) which aims to provide flexible options of study with equal opportunities.   

With the signed MoU, activities will include training of teachers and para-teachers on ADM and training of instructional managers and mobile teachers.

Gov. Solon challenged the barangay and municipal officials present during the ceremonial signing to join in the cause of helping Sarangan children to receive education in their respective places.

Solon said “it is important that we come to an understanding today so that we can implement the program with efficiency.”

Dan Evans, education consultant of the Quality Education for Sarangani Today and Tomorrow (QUEST2), said that every barangay captain should hold the responsibility of advocating education in their communities.

“Take the responsibility seriously and take action,” Evans said.

Sulong Karunungan, one of the pillars of the Sulong Sarangani Program of Gov. Solon, aims to recalibrate the quality education in Sarangani. Through this, education gaps in the province would be narrowed down.

With the partnership between the local government of Sarangani and the Plan International Inc., education in this part of the region is expected to substantially take off.

Plan has already made interventions in various provinces in the Philippines.

Among their most successful work in the country include: bringing women and child protection units closer to rural communities and encouraging the reporting of abuse; expanding coverage of early childhood care and development services among children aged 3 and above through supervised neighborhood play groups; working with the Department of Health and various local government units to improve family planning practices and increasing immunization coverage for children and mothers; promoting backyard food growing and the use of low cost and safe farming techniques; and creating vocational training opportunities for out-of-school children and youth. (April Jane C. Ugsad/PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR’S OFFICE)