DIRECTORY 2011 Edited 4-11.indd - Negros Occidental

trong Support for Educationtrong Support for Education• Upgrade Teachers’ ers’ Capacities acities to Improve Quality of Education• Provide Incentives for High School Honor Graduates to Pursue a Degree in Education• Provide Private High School Scholarship for Top Public Elementary School Graduates• Support Voc-Tech and Entrepreneurial Education• Promote “Schools of the Future”Theorists have pointed out that a nation’s economic development is a function of the qualityof its education, i.e., the more (and better) educated its people are, the better the chances of acountry’s economic development. This is also true at the provincial level, thus, it is imperativethat we invest in our human capital to increase our potentials for economic development and globalcompetitiveness.At the societal level, education has an equalizing effect in that it helps overcome the gapbetween the rich and the poor families by providing equal opportunities for a better life. By makingeducation (particularly college education) to a student from a poor family, a better future is ensurednot only for the student concerned but for the whole family in the long run. Education is seen asthe tool that liberates people from poverty, ignorance and hopelessness.At the basic education level, a teacher’s capacity to educate is almost directly proportional toa student’s capacity to learn. It is, therefore, important to upgrade teachers’ capacities, providingthem incentives to take up advanced trainings. This is to ensure that they are able to teach thecompetence that the average citizen needs to become responsible, productive and self-fullling.This is especially urgent in the public education arena, with 95 percent of all elementary studentsattending public schools.We will strengthen support for the existing Negros Occidental Scholarship Program, expandingit to include private high school education for top public elementary school graduates, to give themaccess to rst-class secondary education normally available only to the children of the wealthy.The program could also provide incentives for high school honor graduates to pursue a degreein Education to ensure good quality teachers in the future. The incentives could also be offeredto top HS graduates who would pursue degrees in Accounting, Veterinary Medicine, and otheridentied priority courses to match the market.In collaboration with TESDA, we will offer short-term technical or vocational courses totrain more workers who want to get into the lucrative world market for welders, pipe tters, andbutchers, among others, including English teachers and I.T. professionals.We will also support the national government’s thrust to promote an entrepreneurial culture byincorporating entrepreneurship in the educational curriculum.We will encourage other LGUs to replicate Sagay City’s successful pilot “School of the Future”whose graduates have qualied for full scholarships at institutions like the Ateneo University inMetro Manila.