CDO bags 2nd 'Seal of Good Education Governance'

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The local government’s aggressive educational support program has resulted to Cagayan de Oro’s winning its second Seal of Good Education Governance (SGEG).

This was according to Mayor Oscar Moreno, who recently accepted the SGEG award given by the United States Agency of International Development (USAID) and Synergeia Foundation.

Moreno said he was “humbled and happy” that the city's effort to pour in some P2.5 billion in the last five years for educational infrastructure projects has been recognized twice.

Since Moreno took over the helm in 2010, the city government was able to build 508 classrooms and establish 13 new high school campuses--mostly in barangays where classroom shortage has been a perennial problem.

Moreno said the local government aims to build more classrooms in the coming years, to be funded from the 1 percent share of the real property tax that the city collects annualy.

“We realized that there is still so many things that need to be done in the field of education, so we keep on pushing,” Moreno said.

Moreno credited the city's intensified education support program to the collaborative efforts of the private and public sector through the Local School Board (LSB).

Under the current administration, the LAB has been composed of representatives from the education department, Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Federation of Chinese Chamber of Commerce, private primary and secondary schools, academe, parent-teacher association, and the interfaith communities. (Jigger J. Jerusalem/PNA)