Christmas came very early to the municipalities of San Nicolas and San Manuel in Pangasinan and Itogon in Benguet. Three months before December, the students within the three municipalities already received one of the best gifts anyone could give them.

The students received their provisions of new and locally developed workbooks for their English and Science classes. The workbooks were created to make the lessons and instructional materials more appropriate to the surroundings and environment of the children which means that they would be easier for them to understand. Providing children with their own workbooks also facilitate reading and writing because the children may use their workbooks at home to practice their lessons and/or do advance reading. The use of workbooks will also help their parents in getting involved with their school work by simply checking their workbooks to see what they are learning and in what areas they are good at or need assistance in.

The workbooks were  developed through the immense support of the San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC.   The launch was attended by the authors and editors of the workbooks as well as their students, their co-teachers, and representatives from the local DepEd Division office and SRPC. The three workbooks (Science and Health III, The World of Language and Reading, and Let’s Read, Think, Speak, and Write,) are intended for the use of students from Grades 2-3.

Invigorated school heads and principals concluded their first School Governance Workshop entitled ‘Changing the Lives of Children” on Nov. 18-19, armed with simple yet systematic approaches to address major problems involving children’s education.

Using a problem tree analysis, school heads fleshed out the root causes of low participation and achievement rates in their elementary schools.  They then prioritized the challenges that they have to address based on what is frequent, important, and feasible.  The priorities were translated into goals and strategies.

Congresswoman Leni Robredo provided inspiration as she shared “Jesse’s List”, i.e. the principles that Secretary, and Synergeia Trustee, Jesse   Robredo lived by.  The tenet that spoke to school heads the most was “Simple is beautiful.”

A principal from Malolos, Bulacan proudly said that the training “recharged” her as she felt the full support of Synergia mentors and facilitators. She said that the workshop was “one of kind and not as heavy” in helping them develop analytical and planning skills. They went through exercises to develop listening skills, participatory management, and consensus building.

The Central Luzon Cluster were composed of about 140 school heads from Balanga (Bataan), Bongabong (Oriental Mindoro), Malolos (Bulacan), Mamburao (Occidental Mindoro), Obando (Bulacan), and Padre Garcia (Batangas).  As a follow through, Principals will submit their school improvement chart on December 15, 2013.  They will propose learning programs that Local School Boards, Synergeia, and USAID can support through the Education Governance Effectiveness (EdGE) program).