ADVISORY COMMITTEE. Board member Alfie Jay Niquia sponsors the multi-stakeholder education sector mechanism (ESM) ordinance during their regular session on Monday (May 13, 2024). Niquia said the ordinance, approved on final reading by the provincial board, mandates the ESM to serve as an advisory committee for the early grade learning. (PNA photo by Annabel Consuelo J. Petinglay)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Antique provincial board on Monday approved an ordinance establishing and institutionalizing the multi-stakeholder education sector mechanism (ESM) to serve as an advisory committee for the early grade learning (EGL).
Board member Alfie Jay Niquia said they approved on final reading during their regular session the “ESM in the Province of Antique” Ordinance, aimed at improving basic life skills for children from kindergarten to Grade 3 and supporting the priorities of the Department of Education (DepEd) to ensure access to quality education.
“The ESM will serve as an advisory committee to the provincial school board (PSB) on matters relative to EGL,” Niquia, who sponsored the ordinance, said in an interview.
The ordinance provides a platform and framework for the multi-sectoral partnership and engagement in planning and implementing programs, projects, and activities for kindergarten to Grade 3 learners in their formative years.
He said one of the learning challenges among Antique children is their difficulty learning the mother tongue, Kinaray-a, due to their exposure to the English language through programs they watch on television.
The advisory committee will have the Antique provincial administrator as chairperson and the Assistant Schools Division Superintendent as co-chairperson.
“Since the ESM is a multi-stakeholder, some of its members are the presidents of the Provincial Federation of Child Development Workers and Provincial Federation of Parents and Teachers Association,” Niquia said.
He said there will also be two representatives from the private sector that have interests in education.
DepEd Schools Division of Antique Schools Governance and Operations chief Dr. Evelyn Remo said the ESM supports the DepEd’s Advancing Basic Education (ABC+) project for early literacy development.
“Through the ABC+ project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), there are reading books published in Kinaray-a and distributed in schools now,” Remo said. (PNA)
