C de Oro three-peats in winning ‘Seal of Good Education Governance’

IT was a grand slam and three-peat for Cagayan de Oro City as it won for the third straight year the “Seal of Good Education Governance” award for reforms and initiatives implemented under Mayor Oscar Moreno’s administration.

Mayor Moreno, along with City Hall officials led by Vice Mayor Raineir Joaquin “Kikang” Uy and department heads, received the award during the 13th Washington Sycip National Education Summit held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).

The award stemmed from the Moreno administration’s efforts to ensure access to quality education for the city’s youth by undertaking, among many initiatives, to expand membership of the Local School Board (LSB).

Moreno opened the LSB to include private sector stakeholders like the student councils, the academe from both private and public schools, the business community, inter-faith groups and Parents-Teachers Associations (PTA) in the city.

The Moreno administration augmented this with an aggressive campaign to build classrooms and school buildings in every urban and rural barangays (village) in Cagayan de Oro City.

This resulted in the reduction of emergency classes for both elementary and secondary schools as students were able to attend classes on time and in comfort.

Since assuming office in 2013, Moreno lamented the dismal conditions of schoolchildren who have to endure and cope with attending classes late in the day. “The schoolchildren are not growing normally,” he said.

Fast forward seven years later: the Moreno administration had built over 700 classrooms and broke ground last Sept. 9 for a school building project that will house 52 classrooms for over 6,000 students of the City Central School.

The Seal of Good Education Governance Award is given by the Synergeia Foundation, a multi-sectoral coalition that includes the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and PLDT-Smart Communications Inc. to local governments that ensured access and delivery of quality education to their children, especially indigent families. (PR / City Information Office)