How to better involve LGUs in education

Local government units (LGUs) have an education problem—one that not many people, especially their constituents, understand. LGUs and their local chief executives have an obligation to the people they serve. Most duties are mandated and are required of them, while some fall in a gray area where they have no clear obligation to perform some tasks, because a higher authority has jurisdiction over them. But by not addressing these problems and gaps in our systems, these officials are doing a disservice to their constituents.

These aspects of local governance exist in a kind of limbo, and education has always been part of this scenario. While LGUs may have the budget to finance local education projects, we often find that this budget is covered by a very restrictive menu. How can LGU leaders give importance to something that, while not devolved to them, they are expected to address nevertheless? How can they give importance to education when layers upon layers of roadblocks are in front of them? How can LGUs address problems that are, by their very nature, local to them?

Not all LGUs have the same difficulties—we cannot compare an LGU in Metro Manila with an LGU in, say, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. During a recent Second Congressional Commission (EdCom II) consultation on how to better involve LGUs in education, we discussed how LGUs should be given the option to fund projects from the special education fund that are not covered by the menu. We also discussed how we can involve the LGU in the hiring process of teachers. By doing so, we can hire teachers that are more familiar with our locality, especially barangays in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas. We also discussed how LGUs can help in the development of the curriculum of students. By doing this, LGUs can better localize the study materials of our learners.

Another area that I am particularly interested in is reading. While infrastructure, health, and other projects are important, I cannot stress enough how education and reading programs also need to be center stage in our LGUs. For example, we can sponsor summer reading camps where children are asked to attend reading classes during summer. We can hire additional reading teachers through our special education fund that will teach struggling students to read after school hours. We can develop big books that young children can use to encourage them to read. We can put up libraries that are safe learning spaces for our children.

At the same time, it is not the sole responsibility of LGUs to help in addressing this problem. We as Filipinos can contribute in our own way. As private citizens, we can donate storybooks for young children. As barangay officials, we can host reading activities in our area. As retired senior citizens, we can be volunteer teachers for children in our community. We as parents can read to our children in our own homes.

Solutions like these are, I’m sure, just part and parcel of the bulk of what EdCom II is thinking of. And I appreciate the commission’s efforts in listening to people like us—teachers, principals, city administrators, and other education program implementers—who are actually on the ground, making sure that our education system works. The problems that we face have been going on for years and no clear solution is in sight.

I know that I am just one perspective among many. Some of the challenges seem insurmountable. But EdCom II is trying, and it is with all the hope in the world that I am watching.

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Juan Carlo Medina served as Vigan City mayor from 2016 to 2022, and was a recent recipient of the Gawad Jesse M. Robredo award. He was one of the local chief executives consulted by EdCom II in its nationwide consultation program to pursue its mission to assess and review the education system in the country.