Bayan Muna Party-list Representative Teddy Casiño boosted the morale of Valenzuelano Day Care Teachers during the city’s celebration of the Day Care Workers Week last Friday, June 8, citing the assurance that his pending bill, House Bill 5852 or the“Magna Carta for Day Care Workers,” would further safeguard and improve their welfare for the noble goal of serving the communities more efficiently.

The legislation of the bill pushes to provide day care workers security of tenure and it lobbies for the standardization of their salaries and benefits in accordance with the mandates of labor laws.

The lawmaker shared both his positive and negative experiences in sending his two children to Day Care Centers and ascertained that there is a need for the government to pay closer attention to its present challenges. He said, “Kailangan pong i-professionalize ang mga Day Care Teachers at magkaroon sila ng disenteng sweldo at security of tenure. Hindi kayo dapat co-terminus kapag natatapos ang panunungkulan ng kapitan. (It is a must to professionalize the Day Care Teachers by providing them decent salaries and security of tenure. You should not lose your job every time a barangay captain leaves his post).”

Rep. Casiño commended Valenzuela City on the plan to allocate the item “Teacher I” with a monthly salary of around PhP 15,000 for Day Care Teachers which is notches higher than what they currently receive which is PhP 10,358 under the item Day Care Worker.  Other cities and municipalities in the country only provide an honorarium that range between Php 500 to Php 2000 per month.

Mayor WIN Gatchalian consistently ensures that Valenzuela City’s Early Childhood Care and Development Program is not behind on providing quality education.  At present all 91 day care teachers are education graduates.  He appealed to them, “Please do not confine your responsibilities inside the class room, but rather, go out and persuade more parents about the importance of allowing their children to take advantage of the free early childhood education.”

Valenzuela City’s Day Care Workers unanimously committed to do the extra mile of doing house visits to hit the target of 10,000 preschool-enrollees this school year. The city has 72 existing Day Care Centers scattered in different barangays around the city which accommodated 5,925 three- to four-year old children last school year.

Aside from center-based learners, CSWDO also implements a Home-Based Early Childhood Care and Development (HB-ECCD) program to deliver door-to-door educational service to communities which are too far from schools. It aims to reach and assist parents who are more concerned about putting food on the family table rather than spend their monies on educating their children.

Now on its second year, HB-ECCD’s culmination rites, otherwise known as “Moving Up,” had a total of 220 learners graduated last June 6, 2012 at the Valenzuela City Auditorium.

HB-ECCD conducts trainings not only for kids but also for adults. The playgroup sessions for young children include storytelling, games, skills enhancement, group singing and news sharing. The adult group, on the other hand, is being administered of mini-seminars about healthy living and smart parenting. Some volunteer-parents are also trained to become additional service-providers.

The pilot sites of HB-ECCD are Barangays Marulas, Karuhatan, Malinta, Malanday, Veinte Reales, Gen. T. De Leon, Mapulang Lupa, Bignay, Ugong and Lawang Bato.

“Putting up new learning avenues will help eliminate the problem in lack of school facilities and will help in giving quality education with the increasing number of students each year,” said ECCD Program Manager, Ms. Sonia Martin.

The celebration of the Day Care Workers Week is in accordance with Proclamation No. 404, Series of 2003, declaring June 7 to 11 of every year as National Day Care Workers Week to recognize the vital role of the day care workers in the promotion of the rights of children. This year, the celebration is anchored on the theme, “Day Care Worker: Kaagapay ng Pamilya at Pamahalaan sa Pagpapatupad ng ECCD Program.”