The city council has approved Ordinance 103, s. 2023 or the “Baguio City Parent Academy Program Ordinance.”
The program intends to help and assist parents or guardians of learners enrolled in Basic Education in public and private schools to ensure continued capacity-building and enhancement programs for parents or guardians as substantial partners in education.
It aims to actively engage parents to become empowered partners in the education of their children, enable parents to sustain their children’s holistic intellectual growth and well-being, train parents to access valuable learning resources to effectively support studies of their children, encourage parents to pursue lifelong learning for themselves to be more effective education partners, and to promote a supportive learning environment for parents and other education stakeholders.
“Creating and establishing right-fit programs for parents will surely help the city government of Baguio and the DepEd in sustaining quality education resulting in a progressive and enlivening City of Baguio.”
The program refers to the learning-service-initiative of the city government in partnership with the Department of Education or the Schools Division Office, which is the lead implementing office with the primary purpose of capacitating parents with the needed knowledge and skills through appropriate training that would enable them to guide and assist their children in their learning journey.
Guardian refers to an individual appointed by a competent court as the legal guardian of the student; an individual authorized by the biological parent/s to whom the care and custody of the student has been entrusted; a relative of the student within the 4th degree of consanguinity or affinity provided that the said relative has the care and custody over the child; and in the case of an orphan, the individual/institution who has care and custody over the child/student.
Training content may include topics related to special education and/or guidance to parents on the learning needs of children with special needs, related to digital learning aligned to DepEd’s digital or smart learning communities, customized topics on mental health and wellness, and other needed topics related to lessons in school that would significantly equip parents effectively assist their children.
For the program, a working committee shall be created with the city mayor as chairperson and the Baguio City Schools Division superintendents co-chairperson.
The other officers include the president of the Federation of Parents-Teachers Association for public schools as the vice chairperson for public schools; president of the Federation of PTA for private schools as the vice chairperson for private schools.
The members are chairperson of the city council committee on education, culture, creativity, and historical research; a representative from public school heads; a representative from private school heads; a representative from the School Governance Council; a representative from an accredited civil society organization whose advocacy is on education; head of the City Public Library, a representative from the Baguio Correspondence and Broadcasters Club; two representatives from the Student Government Council each representing public and private schools, a representative from the Special Education Center or the Persons with Disabilities Office.
The vice chairpersons representing the public and private schools PTA federations shall automatically serve as coordinators to their respective co-officers and member-parents.
The working committee shall hold and conduct regular meetings every other month or six times annually. Special meetings may be called by the chairperson for exigent purposes.
The committee is tasked to formulate standing guidelines, systems, and mechanics for the implementation of the Baguio City Parent Academy Program to be presented to the city council for its approval and adoption; conduct regular assessments on the impact and bearing of the program and submit its recommendation/s to the implementing office if any and to the city council; encourage all education stakeholders concerned to actively partake, participate, and support the program; may create or organize a technical working group if needed to render technical assistance to the implementing office; and perform such other related functions for the full realization of the ordinance.
Tasked to be the primary implementing office is the SDO-DepEd Baguio, which shall regularly provide updates and progress reports to the city council through the program committee.
The ordinance also appropriated an annual support fund for the SDO-DepEd Baguio of P1 million which shall be charged against the city government’s general fund and/or from the special education fund, subject to the regular accounting rules and government’s auditing system.
The funding is for the successful implementation of the ordinance and to realize its core purpose. The allocation shall cover the preparation and reproduction of parent learning guide book/s; acquiring appropriate online learning applications; honorarium and/or tokens for resource speakers if necessary and applicable; expenses during collaborative meetings, program vetting, assessment, and public consultations; completer’s certificates; and other supporting programs backing the learning initiative for parents.
A copy of the ordinance was submitted to the Office of City Mayor Benjamin Magalong for his signature.
May 4, 2024
