National Child Dev’t Center to rise in PLM
A center for child development will be established at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM).
The country’s first National Child Development Center, complete with a training laboratory, will offer curricular studies for teachers on early childhood care and development.
PLM president Maria Leonora de Jesus and Early Childhood Care and Development ( ECCD) Council board vice chairman and executive director Teresita Inciong recently led the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOU) for the project.
The ceremony was attended by former presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and former senator and PLM Board of Regents member Maria Teresa Aquino-Oreta.
De Jesus said at present higher learning institutions do not give much emphasis on early childhood care and development.
The ECCD Council was established to institutionalize a national system for early childhood care and development, covering children aged zero to four years old through Republic Act 10410 or The Early Years Act of 2013.
The ECCD is expected to make the early childhood care and development comprehensive, integrative and sustainable.
It involves the cooperation of public and private sectors including the national and local governments, service providers, families, communities, non-government organizations, professional associations and academic institutions.
Under the project, the PLM and ECCD Council will develop an operational framework focusing on education development that will advance childhood care and development in the country.
The state university, funded by the city government of Manila, has experts on educational management and administrators, faculty and personnel who can conduct an ECCD Council- designed program for training and development of present and future child development teachers not only in Manila but nationwide. Both the PLM and the ECCD Council will undertake research and human resources development to professionalize the ECCD service providers.
De Jesus said the ECCD efforts are founded on the idea that early childhood care and development programs are vital to improving the children’s performance in school and later in life.
In a speech, Estrada cited the importance of education for the development of the youth.
“Filipinos value education. It is the best legacy we can give our children. Education stays with them forever, gives them employment and livelihood opportunities. It is the key to their freedom from the bondage of poverty,” he said.
Estrada said the Philippine Constitution provides for every citizen the right to education and a majority the national budget is allotted for this purpose.
He said that it was during his presidency that RA 8980 or the Early Childhood Care and Development Act authored by Oreta was signed into law.
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