By: Ronaldo A. Pozon, PhD, CESO V, Schools Division Superintendent – Office of the Schools Division Superintendent
Today’s world operates differently from decades back. Nowadays, in order to succeed in one’s undertakings, one should take advantage of collaboration. Collaborations result in partnership which is vital in achieving long term success in the education landscape.
It is an open book that the Department of Education is facing many different challenges, from dealing with the learning gaps and learning losses caused by the COVID – 19 pandemic, the learning poverty as reported by World Bank and UNESCO’s Institute of Statistics, poverty, lack of resources and infrastructure and others. These challenges affect the quality of education and might dictate the future of the country. Needless to say, if the education sector will offer subpar quality today, there is a great percentage that the country will suffer its consequence in the years to come. These problems might be addressed through partnership.
In 2024, the Department of Education has an appropriation of 715.29 billion pesos. This year, the Department of Education has a lion’s share on the 6.326 trillion national budget amounting to 793.74 billion pesos.
The figure may be decent, but if you will match it against the needs of the education sector, you will be certain that a lot more budget should be allocated. Hence, every schools division offices should invest in partnership for education. But why do partnership matter? When you are engaged in partnership, you are working with people who are very different from you, with different skillsets and knowledge who might bring so much ideas to the table. Partnership might lead you in understanding others and appreciate how they think and act, and eventually influence them to help you or your schools. Partnership definitely is a key lever for strategic change.
In 2024, the Schools Division Office of Nueva Ecija received a total of Php 131,461,586.05 worth of donations. This came from different partners that support education. Excluded in the figure is the lasting impact of the partnership on the lives of the learners, and the happy faces of the teachers and parents in receiving educational subsidies and donations for the improvement of learning environment, teaching aids and materials, school supplies and others.
To augment the many needs of the schools division offices, SDS should leads way on fostering strong partnerships within the division. He must take a strategic approach, actively seeking out potential partners to support the division’s various programs, activities, and projects. These efforts might result in continuous support from a wide range of individuals, government officials, private organizations, and non-government groups.
One particular impactful partnership established in Nueva Ecija is the recently implemented Back-to-School, Bike-to-School Program, originally conceptualized by schools division superintendent of SDO Nueva Ecija; has received widespread attention in the division, attracting more partners who are eager to support this initiative. This program aims to provide bicycles to learners who face significant challenges in reaching school due to long distances from their homes, thus, helping them to prevent potential dropout due to transportation barriers. Nearly about 1,000 bicycles have already been distributed to select learners within division. The initiative is a testament of the SDS and the partners’ dedication to supporting learners by providing them alternative means of transportation that will not only made a difference in their educational journey but might inspire many schools division offices, local government offices and schools to find creative solutions to support learners, even in the face of challenges.
There are a lot more programs, activities and projects in the SDO Nueva Ecija financed and supported by different partners. Sustaining partnership with different stakeholders is sustaining better quality education.