PASIG CITY, April 4, 2018 – The Department of Education (DepEd) recently reaped distinctions at the 2017 Good Practice Award (GPA) of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) held during its Project Implementation Officers’ (PIO) Meeting last March 7 at the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Auditorium in Quezon City.

On behalf of the Department, Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones conveyed her deepest gratitude to the NEDA-PIO for recognizing DepEd’s best practices, and vowed to further improve current strategies, and provide new mechanisms towards achieving a globally competitive educational system.

The NEDA-PIO confers the said awards every two years to encourage agencies to take stock of their performance in implementing programs and projects; to recognize implementing agencies which developed good practices; and to multiply benefits of such practices by allowing other agencies to learn from and adopt them.

DepEd entries to the 2017 GPA gained recognition in both categories awarded by NEDA this year: the School-based Learning Action Cells (SLACs) for Professional Development under Category A or Strategies in Achieving Desired Sector Outcomes; and the Financial Management Operations Manual (FMOM) for Category B or Strategies in Resolving Recurrent Issues in Project Management. Both strategies were employed under the Learning, Equity, and Accountability Program Support (LEAPS) project of DepEd.

SLACs are anchored on the Teachers’ Professional Development approach and consistent with the grounds-based approach which strengthens the procedures of school-based management and school improvement plans, with focus on the teaching-learning process. It also serves as a venue for continuous and cost-effective in-service training and teacher development, where teachers and colleagues come together and talk about professional topics and innovative practices that are envisioned to solve problems at the school level. It was effective in the training of teachers on Early Language, Literacy, and Numeracy under the LEAPS project.

On the other hand, the adoption and utilization of the FMOM, which was issued as a policy through DepEd Order No. 60, series of 2016 for financial transactions at all levels of the Department, ensures standard and uniform application of rules and processes in financial management operations, as prescribed by government regulations for budget, accounting, procurement, and asset management. While the FMOM was rolled out to DepEd’s regional and division offices under the LEAPS project, DepEd expanded the training down to school-level and trained over 135,000 personnel on this financial reform initiative.

NEDA conducted the validation of entries in DepEd-IX Division of Zamboanga del Sur between November 27 and 30, 2017. Undersecretary Victoria Catibog and National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) Director John Siena made the final presentation to the awards screening committee last February 28, 2018 at the NEDA Office.

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