More than 400 parents from Mambusao, Capiz came in response to the call for good parents. Vice-mayor Elmer Arevalo graced the two-day activity (February 26-27, 2013) in behalf of Mayor Alba who was on official travel. The SB Education Committee Chairman, Maria Lacson Apostol also came to lend her support. The parents shared their best experiences in developing good values among children and in developing discipline and good working habits.

They listened to the views of their children on their expectations from their parents. There were emotional moments as parents realized that they may have influenced their children to behave in less desirable ways. The Mambusao Project Management Team (PMT) headed by Jerry Leonida did a great job in facilitating the workshops. The participants realized that they learn best through peer-to-peer mentoring. They were so happy to share their insights and experiences.

The parents concluded the workshop with a pledge from every participant to be the best parent ever. All the participants affixed their signatures and their hand marks on a big canvass.

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While most people were already pre-occupied with Christmas parties and holiday preparations, key officials of the local government of Mamburao were immersed in training last December 18-19 at the town’s PPSTA Building.

Thirty (30) Local School Board officials and 55 barangay chairmen, councilors, secretaries and treasurers participated in the activity intended to improve the capacity of the LSB and the barangays to respond to the education needs of their community. Mayor Voltaire Anthony Villarosa set the tone of the discussions by presenting the state of education in the municipality. He challenged the LSB and barangays to work together to improve performance of schools and their children, noting that in the National Achievement Test SY2010-2011, the average Grade Six student of Mamburao could answer 6 out of 10 questions correctly. This, he said, can be increased further.

Synergeia Trustee, FGov. Lito Coscolluela, who conducted the training for the LSB, provided insights and lessons from other LGUs that have successfully reinvented their LSBs and are now reaping good results. The participants were given practical exercises on how to use education data to improve planning and budgeting of funds for education.

The officials were also given a one-day training by Kap Ed Tiongson to strengthen barangay involvement in education governance. Barangays were encouraged to organize Barangay School Boards to institutionalize barangay support and partnership with their schools.

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