San Nicolas takes 3rd in Nat’l Literacy Awards

By Dominic B. dela Cruz

Staff reporter

San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte—The multi-awarded local government unit here once again stamped its class as it was awarded third in the National Literacy Awards.

The award was given to San Nicolas government officials led by San Nicolas mayor Melanie Grace P. Valdez on Sept. 18, 2014 at Benitez Hall in Teachers Camp in Baguio City.

Ms. Valdez expressed her elation for the award as San Nicolas ranked in the top five national finalists and took third place under the Class A municipalities category.

The first-term mayor said the competition was not a joke as they competed against bigger, more progressive and richer municipalities in the country in terms of education.

The Ilocos Times learned that the San Nicolas was the lone municipality for Region I in the national level search.

Last year, the municipal government placed second and with the result placing them a rung lower this year, Ms. Valdez said she will look into the reason why this happened.

She added that there may still be a need to further strengthen the local government’s program in the Alternative Learning System (ALS) and to give more support to the Dept. of Education’s literacy programs.

She stressed that she has already tasked the Municipal Literacy Coordinating Council (MLCC) to be more active and to look into all the aspects of the literacy program.

ALS for barangays

San Nicolas’ 24 barangays have been informed of the literacy programs of the municipal government. Barangays here have then enrolled their respective students in the ALS program as they bat for a 100% literacy rate here.

Relative to this, the municipal government has already approved the purchase of bus purposely for ALS to be dubbed “ALS on wheels”, which will be a mobile learning center for ALS. They hope to acquire this next year.

‘Neophyte’

AS she listened to the acceptance speech of other winners, Ms. Valdez said she realized that the other local governments have concentrated more on the education aspect. San Nicolas, she admitted, is still a “neophyte” in terms of education programs.

To cope with the other LGUs, Ms. Valdez said she will also look into these but she added that she will also consider agriculture, sports, culture, environment and other aspects.

The municipality of Plaridel in Bulacan took the top award, earning it a place in the award’s Hall of Fame. Daet came in second.

2 categories

The NLA has two categories—the Outstanding Literacy Program award and the Outstanding Local Government unit award.

In the explanation, the organizers said, “The Outstanding Literacy Program Award shall be given to a civil society organization, non-government organization, private organization or educational/academic institution, which has developed and implemented a literacy program that made a positive impact on learners and the community.”

Meanwhile, the LGU Award is given to LGUs that have developed and implemented policies, programs and projects conducive to literacy advancement and have efficaciously made a positive impact on their barangays and the quality of life of their people.

The LGU category is further subdivided into four categories: highly urbanized city, component/component independent city, class A municipality (first to third class) and class B municipality (fourth sixth class).

The awarding was organized by DepEd through the Literacy Coordinating Council and in cooperation and coordination with other government organizations.

This year’s National Literacy Conference and Awards theme is “Literacy for Resilient Communities”.

Caps

SN. TAKES THIRD. The San Nicolas delegates led by mayor Melanie Grace P. Valdez receive the 3rd place award in the 1^st to 3^rd class municipality in the National Literacy Awards held at Baguio City. (Photo courtesy of SN gov’t)