THE SECOND Congressional Commission on Education is considering restructuring the Early Childhood Care and Development Council.

EDCOM 2 commissioners cited the need to determine if the council should remain an attached agency of the Department of Education.

Under the Early Years Act enacted in 2013, the secretary of the Department of Education sits as the chairman of the ECCD, with the council’s executive director as the vice chairman.

The ECCD Council, Department of Health and Department of Social Welfare Development are responsible for children aged 0-4, while DepEd is responsible for those aged 5-8.

The EDCOM 2 Green Paper on Governance and Financing of ECCD notes that this interagency collaboration makes accountability difficult.

“After ten years, it’s really about time to reflect and suggest what we need to change in the law and in the governance structure,” said Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian who filed the Basic Education and Early Childhood Education Alignment Act or Senate Bill 2029.

Aside from aligning the K to 12 basic education curriculum to the ECCD curriculum, Gatchalian’s measure seeks to mandate greater responsibilities on local government units in the implementation of ECCD programs.

“I think if we don’t change the law, the structure, the governance, we will never achieve all of the objectives of ECCD Council. Because all of these are in the hands of the local government units. Pagbili ng materials, LGUs; producing high quality workers and teachers, LGUs din; the development of Child Development Centers, LGUs din. I think the first order of business is how do we mobilize the LGUs to do all of these things? Kasi if not, mahirap talaga. We’ll be talking about this over and over again, paikot-ikot lang tayo.”

“Ang feeling po ba ninyo ay you will be more effective kung wala po kayo sa pamilya ng DepEd, so you can properly function and carry out your responsibilities? Do you feel na fit kayo under DepEd?” Pasig City Roman Romulo said.