The School Governing Councils (SGCs) of Cabatuan, Iloilo have steadily moved forward in organizing their communities to help children and their schools.   The SGCs recently underwent the 3^rd level of School Governing Council (SGC) training yielding good results!  Synergeia mentor, former Mayor Diding Gamboa shared that real power resides in all of us and that we all have the capacity to make change.

 

Cabatuan Mayor Ronilo Caspe proudly shared the fruits of Cabatuan’s partnership with Synergeia, saying that “the municipality of Cabatuan has an independent and an expanded school board. It is will not be a difficult journey if all of the stakeholders collaborate.”

 

The participants shared how the SGC made an impact on their community.  Some of them saw the SGCs as doers. Others saw them as great communicators. A participant shared that their SGC members consistently disseminated information about their activities and projects.  Another participant shared that the SGC was also generous with its financial assistance. The SGC of Cabatuan Central Elementary school remarked that all the sectors are represented in their SGC.  Another school is happy because responsibilities of members are clearly defined to help everyone perform well.  Many of the participants expressed satisfaction about their SGCs’ performance especially about the growing attention that barangays give to school.

 

While Cabatuan has many successes to be proud of, they still have many   concerns. For example, one participant shared that the road which children take to go to school is still in a poor state.  An unpaved road hinders many kids from going to school. The others felt that attendance is still a problem.

 

Level 3 SGC training develops the capacity of the participants to think of the results of their work in terms of outcomes instead of inputs and outputs.  Mayor Diding emphasized that SGC activities are only meaningful if they improve achievement of children and enable children to finish their schooling.  The participants were encouraged to translate their goals into tasks and to draw up action plans.

At the end of the day, Mayor Diding reminded the participants that everyone must be heroes for the children. “There is power that resides in everyone.”

Parents of elementary and high school students of Valenzuela City recently attended “Nanay-Tatay Teacher” training camps organized by the city government on November 15-16, November 16-17 and November 27, and facilitated by Synergeia mentors.  We are pleased to see many parents in attendance–there were 150 to 200 participants per workshop schedule – – and we are so heartened by their commitment to become better “teachers” of their children at home.

One activity that was quite interesting was on gender sensitivity.  Parents were asked what comes to mind when describing a “man,” “woman,” “lesbian” and “gay.”  Here are some of their responses:   A   female is the home maker  and  carer of the family, loving and affectionate, emotional,  submissive  and a nagger.  The male is the breadwinner  and   head of the family: superior, domineering, and physically strong, hardworking and responsible.  On the other hand, a lesbian  is  labeled as  macho, demonstrative, generous, possessive, and tends to be the jealous type.  A  gay person  is described as flirt, creative,  loud, has a happy disposition, soft-hearted, and sociable.

While having distinct roles and characterizations, gender sensitivity also means understanding and not stereotyping what a man, woman, lesbian and gay can do or feel.  With Sir Wacky’s guidance, one group reflected that a woman is caring but  a man, by being the provider for his family, shows care to his loved ones.  The characteristic of caring for another also came up when this group described a lesbian and a gay.

Teaching children to be gender sensitive and avoid biases might be tricky but one mother shared how she did it with her four sons while they were growing up.  She insisted that each of her sons took his turn washing the dishes, and that the chore was not solely their only sister’s.  Simple trick, this mother said, but it worked for her four sons!

A participant from Councilor Rovin’s group said that Filipino culture during the early times was not accepting  of  the third sex.  Fortunately, this has changed and there is now greater acceptance of  homosexuals  as  they are.  We see their talent and  creativity in many fields like fashion, arts,  entertainment, media   and  beauty care  industry.    However, this has not come easy.  A participant   shared about  her  gay nephew who used to be bullied  in school.   The  parents talked to the school’s  guidance counsellor and insisted on their child’s right to express himself as the normal thing to do.  The offender was  sanctioned by the school authorities and eventually, the school  community stopped ostracizing gay or lesbian students.

The  lesson   that  came  out  of  the  workshop   was  any person, regardless of  sexuality,  should be  considered , treated   and valued  equally.