Tuesday, June 17, 2008 Help schools, groups tell public
GROUPS hope to gather the support of the community to promote quality education in all public schools.
The Education Revolution (Edrev), an advocacy program of the Foundation for Worldwide People Power (FWWP), aims to address the problems of basic education among public schools through harnessing people power.
Butch Hernandez, executive director of FWWP, said that addressing the problems in basic education is through building alliances and getting the communities involved.
With the education revolution slowly brewing in Cebu, the FWWP will deploy community development officers in the region to form small groups in school divisions to hold forums on education problems in their areas.
One of the organizations that the Edrev has tied up with is 5775, an organization that focuses on the education crisis.
“The thrust of 5775 is to create a movement of getting everybody involved in reversing the education crisis,” said Mario Deriquito, director for Social Development of the Ayala Foundation Inc., and founding member of 5775.
Both Hernandez and Deriquito share the same sentiments that schoolchildren are no longer receiving the quality education that they all deserve.
“Our children are not learning enough,” Deri-quito told Sun.Star Cebu.
Deriquito lamented about the dropout rates among elementary school children, the lack of reading comprehension skills and their poor performance in Math and Science.
Quality
“It’s an issue on quality,” Hernandez said in a separate interview.
While the problems that have been affecting basic education may be considered difficult on a national level, these problems are surmountable on a community level, said Hernandez.
“On a national level, you will shrink. But on a community level, you are nearer,” he said.
Through the Edrev, Hernandez hopes to abolish basic education problems and make way for quality education.
“It is a revolution because it has to be widespread. That means, a lot of people have to believe in it, a lot of people have to share their thoughts, through forums which we will conduct throughout the country,” he said.
He also added that everybody involved should also possess a “shared vision of quality education”.
“The definition of ‘quality education’ may differ from community to community, but the end result is the same: kailangan magaling ang mga bata in their fundamental skills. But more than that, they understand themselves as people (Children need be good in the fundamental skills),” said Hernandez.
Hernandez admits that while it is the government’s primary responsibility to provide quality education to the public, it is important for the community to take part in the provision of quality education.
“Nothing will happen if we just put pressure the government and we do our own thing. (If we take part in this) there is a big chance that there will be quality education,” he said. (EPB)
