YPS

Building effective is crucial in addressing the many issues in Philippine education. Ultimately, the quality of education in this country is everyone's concern. As such, it is important to get more people involved in education oriented-initiatives, not in isolation but in concert with one another.

Arguably, such initiatives are most effective at the local level, and in this regard communities have an important role to play in organizing towards meaningful reform. One important way communities can participate actively in improving the public education system is by monitoring local school boards and requiring transparency in their activities. It should be recalled that the board's traditional function is that of administrator of the special education fund. This fund is used for school building maintenance and other activities but is not enough to cover the requirements of the public schools.

Because of the role that local chief executives and school district representatives play on the board, some have opined that local school boards have become politicized. Others question the projects for which the special education fund has been used. Whether true or not, it is clear that if managed properly and monitored by the community, the fund be put to good use; not only that, the local school board itself can be made to work more effectively.

In fact, there are exemplary cases of local school boards that have begun to appreciate the importance of building stakeholders at the local level in order to address education-related issues. By way of example, the Naga City school board has realized that in order to become more effective as a school board it is necessary for provincial, city and municipal school divisions and districts to be more open to partnerships and collaboration.

Early reports of the Education for All (EFA) initiative cite that the EFA program had been least effective during interventions requiring inter-sectoral and inter-agency cooperation. One recommendation was to look beyond the educational system and to strengthen bonds with present and potential partners. It also suggested strengthening the partnership between the LGU, the school and the community.

This can be achieved at the local level by tapping the potential of the Local School Boards for education reform; yet this is a message that has to be relayed and understood by students, teachers and members of their immediate community. People have to move beyond accepted norms and stand up for their right to quality education and to actively participate in initiatives that work towards education reform.

Effective partnerships also engage the private sector, where many significant efforts to address the problems of education have originated. Eight years ago at the Asian Institute of Management, a series of education roundtable discussions with CEOs was held, leading to an Education Summit with government, public sector and private sector representatives participating. Two years ago, the Synergeia foundation organized an Education Congress participated in by a large number of private sector foundations and corporations in order to organize private sector efforts for education. This year alone, there have been numerous meetings that have been arranged by different organizations for education.

These initiatives help, but the situation is still far from ideal. In spite of considerable contributions from private entities, the sum of all these efforts does not exactly produce the results that our education system requires. Moreover, even without meaning to be so, it has been a problem that private sector initiatives suffer from being episodic, owing to the other programs and concerns that occupy their existing operations. Where that has not been the case, it has sometimes been observed that institutions tend to work independently and seemingly oblivious to other initiatives even in the areas of their immediate responsibility. This, however, is slowly becoming a thing of the past, as more and more groups have come to accept that if they are not careful, they might end up implementing the same projects packaged differently. By working with each other as well as with the communities within which they are situated, systematic solutions may be found and addressed.

In the end it's not about who has the best programs for education: what matters is how different groups with the same goals can work together through partnerships for education. We can begin by empowering the teachers and communities through effective school boards and matching it with private sector solutions committed to demanding key performance results instead of just focusing on the magnitude of how much has been given. To cite an example, the Bato Balani Foundation Inc. has organized its initiatives around the concept of "academic ecosystems" that create a system of partnerships between the community, the school, and the local government. These academic ecosystems make use of "hub schools" - that is, private educational institutions with a tertiary school - as staging areas to share resources with surrounding partner public and private schools, with the involvement of local officials and community members.

This program has certain characteristics in common with the education programs that the Synergeia Foundation have with LGU's and the framework for community development of the Foundation for Worldwide People Power. Individually, each has already implemented programs that engage the community in education development. Looking forward, there is great room for partnership among these organizations and sectors. The partnership could effect much needed change within the educational system, beginning first at the community level.

There is no one way and no one perfect solution for education, however helpful, that can address the issues our education system faces. There is more to addressing the problems in Philippine education than just providing financial resources or physical infrastructure. It entails working together towards education reform.