THE Local School Board (LSB), chaired by Mayor Evelio Leonardia, is joining an online meeting on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, for the program orientation on a project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) and the Department of Education (DepEd).

USAid and DepEd have chosen Bacolod City as one of the six pilot sites for the implementation of its Advancing Basic Education in the Philippines (ABC+ Project).

The virtual meeting, to be held Tuesday starting 3 p.m., is hosted by USAid and the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), where Leonardia is the national president.

Attending the meeting aside from Leonardia are LSB co-chair Gladys Amylaine Sales, OIC-schools division superintendent of DepEd-Bacolod City; and LSB members: Councilor Renecito Novero, chair of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Education; City Treasurer Giovanni Balalilhe, Richard Gelangre—president of Bacolod City Public School Teachers Federation; Lourdes Ongsuco—president of DepEd National Employees Union; Windell Billones—president of PTA Federation of Bacolod; and DepEd- Bacolod legal officer Lawyer Jubert Katalbas.

Executive Assistant George Zulueta, focal person for the project, and Executive Assistant Moises Dela Cruz, head of cluster on education, will also join the meeting.

USAid and DepEd designed the ABC+ Project and have tapped RTI International as its lead implementing body to improve children's basic life skills in the primary levels (Kinder to Grade 3).

The LCP will work in partnership with The Asia Foundation (TAF) and through the funding support of USAid, will spearhead the project in response to the ABC+ entitled: Cities’ System Capacity Development Project (Ci-Cap) in Bicol and Western Visayas Region.

Leonardia said, “This is a step forward for improving the quality of education in Bacolod. When the K to 12 Program was introduced, we were also chosen among the first pilot cities. Even in the DepEd 50-50 scheme to construct major school buildings, we were the first pilot city in the country. This USAid-DepEd program will surely help us keep our lead in education advancement.”

USAID said the ABC+ will support DepEd by identifying innovative and sustainable ideas to address the continuing challenges in literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional learning, focusing on systems strengthening.

The project aims to build and strengthen cities’ system capacity and commitment to plan, mobilize and manage resources in support of improved learning outcomes of children at the primary level. Likewise, the project aspires to enhance cities’ capacity to collaborate with DepEd to harmonize their education programs. (PR )