MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/10 April) — Malaybalay City’s biggest elementary school has set up a multisectoral body to help administrators in the development and improvement of the school.
“It takes a whole village to educate a child,” Noel Tan Nery, principal of the Malaybalay City Central School, said during the founding meeting this week of the School Governing Council (SGC).
The MCCS gathered representatives from the different stakeholders to organize the SGC, which Tan Nery said, will be an “interface of stakeholders, sources of strategic decisions that shape the school and its work.”
The MCCS could be the first public elementary school in Bukidnon to put up its SGC, he added.
He clarified that the SGC does not duplicate the Parents Teachers’ Association (PTA) as the former includes the community and other stakeholders.
The SGC will involve school representatives, the alumni, the local government, non-government organizations, retirees and other sectors, the principal said.
Tan Nery cited Republic Act 9155 or Republic Act No. 9155, otherwise known as “Governance of Basic. Education Act of 2001 that mandated schools to organize the SGCs as early as 2002.
He said the law, which renamed the then Department of Education, Culture, and Sports (DECS) as the Department of Education, mandated that the community has to be involved.
The school administration and the SGC will have “shared responsibility and shared accountability,” he said.
But Tan Nery said the principle behind the SGC is volunteerism, not compulsion.
Cosjulita Olarte, MCCS faculty president, said the SGC taps community members who can provide support and work as partners.
Tresilita Linan, SGC interim chair, said the body will provide a forum for the stakeholders to work together in activities such as the development and monitoring of the school improvement programs (SIPs).
The elected officials of the SGC are Jocelyn Daroy of the Philippine Red Cross Bukidnon, chair; Alan Comiso of Karancho, vice chair; Ellen Delante of MCCS, Secretary; Rosalie Fajardo of Julie’s Bakeshop, Treasurer; and Nova Nieva Tortola, barangay kagawad, as auditor.
MCCS is the only school in bukidnon offering the Arabic Language and Islamic Values Education or ALIVE program. (MindaNews)