Edcom hails Muntinlupa, Naga, Cebu, Taguig’s efforts on child care

LEARNING SESSION In this August 2023 photo, Grade 1 teacher Ivy Catungal engages her pupils during the first day of classes at San Diego Elementary School in Batasan Hills, Quezon City. (File picture from GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE)
MANILA, Philippines — The Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2) has observed that “local government initiatives across the Philippines have demonstrated remarkable success in transforming ECCD [Early Childhood Care and Development].”
This is “through innovative and comprehensive approaches.”
Edcom came up with this view as it underscored the initiatives of some local government units (LGUs) in uplifting early childhood care.
The commission made its review in its Year 2 report as it laid out its efforts on building “stronger foundations” for the children’s future.
The report was released on Tuesday.
Article continues after this advertisementIt said an integrated approach to ECCD consists of quality education, proper nutrition, and community engagement.
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Muntinlupa
According to the report, Muntinlupa City’s Early Childhood Education Division, through its multi-stakeholder approach, “enables extensive services including health programs, supplementary feeding and educational activities.”
The division was created under Ordinance No. 04-139.
It added that the division generated a P72.9 million fund by 2023, serving 8,000 children annually through 90 child development centers.
Naga
Meanwhile, Naga City’s Early Education and Development Program establishes “Montessori-type” daycare centers in each sitio, or part of a barangay, with trained workers and modern equipment.
The city’s program also features special education services where therapy is offered for handicapped pre-schoolers.
The city has also almost doubled its daycare centers, from 30 to 54, and has reached one-fourth of its beneficiaries in just two years.
Cebu
The “Kapurok Ko, Karamay Ko” program by Barangay Taloot in Argao, Cebu was also featured in the report.
It showcased the “Food Available in the Home” initiative integrated with purok-based (community) feeding programs and the “Tabo sa Purok” where families are allowed to sell goods.
The program reduced malnutrition and non-reader rates from 7 percent to 1.7 percent and 6 percent to 1.4 percent between 2013 and 2023.
Taguig
Lastly, the report also mentioned Taguig City’s ECCD programs.
These include free daycare services with learning materials and a feeding program; the AlagaNutri program where six to nine-year-old students are given tailored nutrition programs; a 120-day dietary supplementation program for children aged one to five in Lower Bicutan; and Innovative Overweight and Obesity Management Program.
The report further noted that the city’s programs show how education, nutrition, health monitoring and physical activity promotion can support ECCD.
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Edcom 2 also recommended that effective implementation of ECCD requires “strategic investment in local government capacity, particularly in strengthening low-income LGUs’ ability to deliver services.”
The commission is a body mandated by the Philippine government to assess the education sector.