BRANDING. Arrupe Educational Center director Maria Victoria B Trinidad (left) guides the participants in their presentation of their respective logo and tagline. The logo and tagline must identify their respective school governing councils and characteristics of their organizations.

Report and photos by Lea May Caburatan

“Ano nga ba ang isang matatag na School Governing Council (What is a stable SGC)?” asked Synergeia Foundation chief executive officer Dr Milwida “Nene” M Guevara during a third-level workshop on SGC development, held on April 27 in Cagayan de Oro City.

The workshop, called “Building Communities that will Make Education Work,” was part of a series initiated by the Synergeia Foundation in line with the Education Governance Effectiveness (EdGE) project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The event was participated by representatives from the city local government unit and the Department of Education (DepEd) - Division of Cagayan de Oro City, parents, barangay officials, school heads, district supervisors, and teachers from districts Central I, East I, East II, North I, North II District, South, Southwest, West I, and West II.    

The workshop centered on how the participants could strengthen their respective SGCs through translating their goals into tasks and by learning the concept of metrics and performance indicators.

They were also guided in the process of identifying problems and solution and developing their own brand.

CITY LEADER. Mayor Oscar "Oca" Moreno presents the efforts of Cagayan de Oro City to achieve the Seal of Good Education Governance and how Synergeia has given an avenue to strengthen local school governance.

CDO Mayor Oscar Moreno, one of the Top 10 Education Champions in the country, also graced the event.

In his message to the participants, he said: “Marami na tayong nagawa, pero marami pang kulang (We have done a lot, but we still lack more)… We will not stop. We know that education is very important. As we continue our journey, we thank Synergeia for being with us.”  

Through his administration, Cagayan de Oro City has been awarded the Seal of Good Education Governance in April 2018.

“They [Synergeia] are here to help us, kasi nakikita nila that the community is also eager to work para sa ating mga sarili,” Moreno said. (They are here to help us, because they could that the community is also eager to work for ourselves.)

“We are a good partner, a good implementer, and in terms of implementation, I’m just [setting] a direction, you are the ones that will make it happen. Kayo [You all] will be the ones who will bring us to reality,” Moreno added.

THE SGC WAY. Synergeia Foundation chief executive officer Dr Milwida “Nene” M Guevara (standing, right) gives her inputs during the third-level School Governing Council workshop.

Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan has been working together with Synergeia Foundation to improve access to quality education and livelihood skills in areas afflicted by conflict and poverty, particularly in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

As the social development arm of the Xavier Ateneo’s School of Education, the Arrupe Educational Center (AEC) seized the workshop as an opportunity to understand further the concerns of the community and to take an active part in the formulation and implementation of programs and projects in education.∎