Party-list gets Senate nod on rural farm school bill

PARTY-LIST AAMBIS-OWA scored an initial victory in the approval of House Bill (HB) 6050 or the Rural Farm Schools Bill following joint public hearings in the Senate.

AAMBIS is a non-profit national organization of small and marginalized farmers.

The Senate committees on Finance, Ways and Means, Environment and Natural Resources and Civil Service and Government Reorganization conducted the hearings, and the committee on Education, Arts and Culture gave its nod Tuesday.

AAMBIS-OWA party-list Representative Sharon Garin who authored HB 6050 confirmed the said approval.

Garin said the passage of the bill will institutionalize the plan to push for rural farm schools as alternative delivery mode of secondary education.

"Rural farm schools, which presently number at 14, provide for facilitative and experiential learning on the core subjects of the secondary education curriculum with focus on agri-fisheries as well as emphasize farm entrepreneurship as a tool in cultivating local entrepreneurs, revitalizing rural economies and repopulating rural communities," Garin said.

Rural farm schools have alternating training cycles, she added. The current practice has students attending classes for a week to learn basic subjects as prescribed by the Department of Education (DepEd).

The next two weeks thereafter are spent hands-on in family farms, applying the techniques learned in class under the supervision of tutors.

"The rural farm schools are envisioned to address the shortage in classrooms for high school students and the declining interest among the youth to take up agricultural or fisheries courses," a press statement said.

The joint public hearing was presided by Senator Edgardo Angara but was later turned over to its vice chairperson Senator Loren Legarda.

After the approval of the Senate committee, the said legislative measure will be presented to the plenary for approval and passage into law.

Legarda said she will support the passage of the rural farm school bill in the plenary. (Sunnex)