Community Initiatives in Promoting Quality Education for All: Some Directions for Rural Education Development in the Philippines

 Dates of Implementation:    September – December 2006 

Partner Institution: UNESCO Beijing Office 

 Objectives:

To document the education reform initiatives of two communities located in less developed areas of the Philippines

Project Description:

PSSC inquired into the experience of two separate communities, Naga City in the Bicol Region and Mambusao, Capiz in Western Visayas Region, in instituting basic education reforms. Both communities are a considerable distance from Metropolitan Manila and have historically suffered from a paucity of economic opportunities and government attention and resources. Both introduced reforms using strategies available at the local level—the Local School Board and the Local Multisectoral Council. 

The case studies relied on the documentation and reflective analysis of principal researchers who were closely involved with the local reform efforts, as well as key informant interviews conducted among the various actors and stakeholders in the reform process such as the local mayors, the local development offices in charge of education plans and programs, members of the local school boards, principals, teachers, and parents. The studies provide policymakers, local government officials, educators and other interested groups with a sense of the range of local education reform possibilities and the factors or conditions that make local innovations successful and operational or impede their development and progress.