Creation of City’s Education Coordinating Council underway
The Baguio Education Coordinating Council (BBECC) shall be created soon following the approval of a city ordinance on the third and final reading.
The creation of the BECC has been sought to bring about harmonious educational policies and up-to-date standards in the city.
Councilor Vladimir Cayabas, author of the ordinance, emphasized the need for active collaboration among the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and Department of Education (DepEd), guided by consistent or unified policies and regulations.
The BECC shall be chaired by the city mayor and co-chaired by the Sanggunian’s Committee on Education, Culture, Creativity, and Historical Research.
The vice-chairperson for Basic Education shall be the Schools Division Superintendent of the DepEd-Baguio; the vice-chairperson for Higher Education shall be a CHED-CAR Representative; and the vice-chairperson for Tech-Voc Education shall be a TESDA-CAR representative.
The members shall be the Chairperson of Sanggunian’s Committee on Youth and Sports Development; NYC Baguio Field Office Head; CHED Baguio Head Officer; TESDA Baguio Field Office Head; PRC Baguio Field Office Head; CSC Baguio Field Office Head; DOLE Baguio Field Office; City Planning and Development Coordinator; representative from the city’s School Governing Council; PTA Baguio Federation President; a representative from Basic Education, both public and private schools; representative from Technical-Vocational Institutions in the city; representative of HEIs; three representatives from the private Human Resource, Industry, and Business Sectors.
Serving as the city’s education quality assurance team, the education coordinating council shall take the lead in coordinating with the various education stakeholders from concerned government agencies and private institutions to develop systems that will check the quality of education services in the city.
The council shall likewise evaluate the collective success rate of these services wherein intervention could be introduced to further improve them.
Furthermore, it shall be the task of the council to craft local policy recommendations and spearhead capacity-building programs with the end view of bolstering the competence of all stakeholders.
The council shall conduct their regular meetings quarterly except on very exigent reasons or purposes that call for special meetings.
An amount of P200,000 shall be appropriated each year for the purpose subject to the regular accounting rules and the government’s auditing procedure.
The ordinance has been forwarded to the City Mayor’s Office for the approval of the chief executive. –Jordan G. Habbiling
