BASIC EDUCATION

SECTOR REFORM
AGENDA ( BESRA)
I. Introduction/Historical
Background:

 The Philippine development and

poverty reduction strategy is
articulated in the Government’s
Medium –Term Development Plan
(MTPDP ) 2004-2010. It gives high
priority to achieving universal basic
education.
 The country’s education strategy is
anchored on the National Education
for All (EFA) 2015 Plan and attainment
of the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) which aim to provide an
overarching policy framework for
basic education with a vision that all
Filipinos will acquire basic
competencies.
 This particular challenges for basic
education have been acknowledge by
the country’s leaders and educators
and there have been important gains
made in the last decade.
 Important initiatives on rationalization
were introduced by DepEd
administration following the passage
of the Governance of Basic Education
Act ( Republic Act RA 9155) in 2001
with its emphasis on its declaration
that “ the school shall be the heart of
the formal education system.”
 The reform proposal were progressively
refined and by 2005,there was widespread
consensus on the need for urgent sector-
wide strategies that would place schools
first and empower local communities to
take initiative to achieve school improvement.
This consensus was articulated as the
School First Initiative (SFI). The strategies
were in turn translated into policy actions
under the Government’s Basic Education
Reform Agenda ( BESRA ).
 DepEd Order on BESRA
 No. 23 s. 2010 ADOPTION OF THE BESRA IMPLEMENTATION
 ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN, 2010-2012: A BLUEPRINT
 FOR TRANSFORMING THE BASIC EDUCATION
 SUB-SECTOR

No. 87 s. 2009 CREATION OF ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOMENT (OD)
 AND LIVELIHOOD/TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL
 EDUCATION TECHNICAL WORKING GROUPS (TWGs)
 UNDER BESRA

 No. 34 s. 2009 MOVING FORWARD IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
BASIC EDUCATION REFORM AGENDA (BESRA)
 No. 16 s. 2008 COORDINATNG MECHANISMS FOR IMPLEMENTING
 THE BASIC EDUCATION SECTOR REFORM AGENDA
 (BESRA)
 No. 69 s. 2007 COORDINATNG MECHANISMS FOR IMPLEMENTING
 ACTIONS UNDER THE BASIC EDUCATION SECTOR
REFORM AGENDA (BESRA)

 DepEd Memo on SBM

 No. 149 s. 2007 UTILIZING THE ACCREDITATION PROGRAM
 FOR PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS (APPES)
 CRITERIA FOR PLANNING SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
 UNDER THE SCHOOL BASED MANAGEMENT (SBM)
II. What exactly is the Basic
Education Sector Reform
Agenda or BESRA?
 BESRA is a package of interrelated
policy actions intended to bring about
a fundamental change in how
education is delivered across the
basic education sector, and in how
reforms in the basic education sector
are planned and implemented.
 The BESRA policy actions are
organized under Five Key Reform
Thrusts ( KRTs )
 that focus on:
1.Strengthened School-
Based Management (SBM)
 The first KRT relates to the reform
principle that the best people to improve
the quality of schools are the people
most directly affected by the school’s
operations – namely the school heads,
the teachers, the students’ parents and
others in the community.
 Ex. Implementation of School and Annual
Improvement Plans
 MOOE maintenance/ operation of expenses
based on needs
 2. Improved teaching
effectiveness and teacher
development
 The second KRT focuses on the important role
of the teachers as driving force in improving
student learning and educational quality at the
school level.

 Ex. Teachers’ in-service trainings, seminars

and scholarships.
 National Competency Based Teachers
Standards or ( NCBTS ) application and
implementation

 3. Enhanced quality
assurance through
standards and
assessment.
 The third KRT is focused on ensuring wide
social support for learning in schools. People
from all sectors of society play an important
role not only in supporting the work of the
teachers, but also in supporting schools and all
the curricular processes that aim to promote
student learning.

 Ex. Brigada Eskwela, GPTCA, Brgy. RTA, Vendors, Govt.

 Officials, Private sectors and NGOs
 4. Improved access and
learning outcomes
through alternative
learning, etc.
 The fourth KRT emphasizes the variety of
educational experiences that can help learners
attain the learning goals. This includes having
early childhood learning experiences,
alternative learning systems, and other varied
learning experiences to help students attain
highest levels of learning.

 Ex. Full implementation of RBEC instruction, learning

resources, curricular and extra curricular activities.
5. Institutionalized culture
change in the Dep.Ed
 The fifth KRT refers to the Department
of Education’s institutional culture to
have a change from prescribing
actions through orders and memos to
facilitating school initiatives and
assuring quality.
 Why is the BESRA a
good reform package?

Why BESRA is the

promise of redemption?
 According to Dr. Allan Bernardo, a professor of De la
Salle University in a Forum on Education about BESRA’s
Promise….. “There are many important reasons why
BESRA is a truly positive set of policy reform initiatives.
 The most important reason is the
Educational Philosophy underlying the
various components BESRA. All components
of the reform initiatives are intended to help
Filipino learners to attain higher levels of
learning and achievement. The higher levels
of learning are defined in terms of cognitive
and affective knowledge in the major
learning areas that would allow the learner
to effectively participate in diverse and
complex life situations beyond the school
and to continue life learning.”
 NINE POSITIVE
QUALITIES OF BESRA
 First, BESRA focuses on the improving student
learning processes and outcome.

 Second, BESRA affirms the need to employ

diverse approaches to facilitating learning in the
classroom.

 Third, BESRA locates the reform interventions at

the level of the school and the classroom.
 Fourth, locating the reform initiatives at the school
level also creates stronger accountabilities to the
community, and allows for more responsive and
more relevant school programs.

 Fifth, BESRA recognizes the important role of

teachers and teacher development in improving
student learning outcomes.

 Sixth, BESRA builds on community-school

relationships, and aims to strengthen such
relationships by looking at the community as a
resource for improving schools, and by ensuring
that schools are accountable to the community.
 Seventh, BESRA reforms are based on previous
interventions that worked.

 Derived from pilot projects such as the Third

Elementary Education Project ( TEEP ), the Basic
Education assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) and the
Strengthening Implementation of Visayas Education (
STRIVE ) and other reform initiatives.

 Eighth, the BESRA shifts the reform initiatives of

the DepEd from project approach to a more
organic approach.
 Finally, the BESRA reforms are truly
positive because BESRA is DepEd’s
reform initiative. It is not imposed by
an external agency, or some foreign-
assisted project. In developing the
specific components of BESRA, the DepEd
offices responsible undertook a most
extensive consultation with a wide range of
stakeholders within the Dep.ed and among the
various stakeholders of the Philippine Basic
Education Sector.
Dep.Ed’s Achievements
BESRA focusing SBM
 ( SBM is the lynchpin of BESRA)

 Lynchpin—means the one that serves to
hold together parts or elements that exist
or function as a unit.
 The adoption and Roll-Down of the
School- Based Management (SBM)
Framework and Standards for
implementation of a comprehensive
SBM at the regional, division and
school level of all schools in the
Philippines.
 The release of SBM grants in
support of activities that enhance
learning, the drilling of down of
the MOOE to schools to cash and
related policies in support of the
school’s financial accountability
for the MOOE are also notable.
 There is evidence of general
awareness of SBM, with 80% -
90% of schools and school heads
having been oriented to its
practices have 5-year School
Improvement Plans and have
begun to mobilize stakeholders’
support or organized School
Governing Councils with
representatives from various
sectors in the community.
III Summary

 School – Based Management ( SBM ) is a key

component of the DepEd’s Basic Education
Sector Reform Agenda ( BESRA ) which is a
widely- accepted reform initiative which
recognizes that schools as they are the key
providers of education, should be able to
continuously improve by being empowered
to make informed and localized decisions
based on their own unique needs.
 The school heads and teachers are given the
chance to create linkages with the local
government and the private sector, which can
help improve local schools.
 IV Conclusions
 The underlying principle in SBM under BESRA is
that the people directly involved and affected by
the school operations are the best persons to
plan, manage and improve the school. So the
people involve must work hand in hand to reach
the goal to bring about positive change in the
form of governance and management of the
school to effect improvement in the quality of
education for the students. So, it is therefore
very important to create an environment where
all the people involved in the process NOT ONLY
AGREE BUT ALSO COMMIT TO MAKE THAT
CHANGE HAPPEN.
 Prepared by;

Airene O. Suan
BESRA Reporter


What is the governance
framework of School-Based
Management?
 The Government has amended the education Ordinance to
implement in schools a participatory governance framework
with transparency and accountability. The Ordinance, which
came into force on January 1, 2005, gives legal backing to the
SBM governance framework. It provides for the establishment
of an Incorporated Management Committee (IMC) and sets out
its composition, operation, functions and powers so that
stakeholders can participate in school governance according
to the law. The direct participation of these key stakeholders in
school decision-making will enhance the transparency and
accountability of school governance, and the key stakeholders
should work together to set common goals and strengthen
their partnership to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and
learning of the school.