EDCOM 2 Commissioner Representative Francisco Benitez proposed the alignment of early childhood education and basic education to coordinate the expectations from the Department of Education and childhood care and development centers.

The lawmaker cited the proposal to include the Department of the Interior and Local Government in the composition of the Education Council.

“There are provisions in there to ensure that the DILG is the vice-chair of the Council”, he said.

In the current structure of the Council, the roles of government agencies were divided based on the age of the children being served.

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

However, EDCOM 2 observed that this interagency collaboration makes accountability difficult.

Benitez also stressed the need to provide child development workers permanent positions.

“We insist on plantilla positions for child development workers and teachers within the barangay and to provide them with a certain amount of security of tenure,” he said.