DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental (PIA) -- The community-based monitoring system (CBMS) is a vital tool in coming up with informed decisions in the education sector. 

This was emphasized by Department of Education (DepEd) Negros Oriental Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Neri Ojastro after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported the results of the 2022 CBMS. 

“As a guiding instrument, the data generated in the CBMS would help our school programs centered on health, internet connectivity, education, nutrition, child protection or child labor among others,” said Ojastro. 

PSA recently turned over the 2022 CBMS survey results to the local government units (LGUs) of Amlan, Ayungon, Bindoy, Bayawan City, Canlaon City, Guihulngan City, San Jose, and Sta. Catalina during a Provincial Statistics Committee meeting in the city. 

They are the pilot LGUs that allocated a budget for the CBMS survey and were able to complete their data collection. 

Ojastro said the CBMS data will help them especially in determining the current nutritional status of school children in the communities. 

“This is what we need as we are also implementing the school-based feeding program. We need the data on the current nutritional status of children in the community, and how many children who are not in school, undernourished, so they can enjoy the program if the parents allow the children to go to school,” he said. 

Data-based interventions

PSA chief statistical specialist Ariel Fortuito said the CBMS will help decision makers in the LGUs address the concerns in their areas that need appropriate interventions and prioritization, such as access to electricity of households, internet connections, food insecurity, schooling status of the school-aged population, safety and security, water, sanitation, hygiene, among others.

The 2022 CBMS covers the data collection in 2021. 

One of the survey results presented by PSA is the number of households that experienced skipping a meal at least once in the past 12 months due to lack of resources.

Of the eight LGUs that received the CBMS data, Sta. Catalina ranked the highest with 21.63 percent followed by Bindoy with 16.18 percent, while Amlan logged the lowest number of households that missed a meal at only 6.53 percent. 

Using this data, local officials can craft comprehensive plans that will better address nutrition and food security concerns and promote sustainable agriculture in their area, said Fortuito. 

The PSA official said the survey also identifies vulnerable members of the community, which can be used for evidence-based planning and budgeting in the LGUs. 

Anti-child labor campaign

DepEd is helping in the government’s anti-child labor campaign by using the statistics to identify children who are working and not going to school. 

The 2022 CBMS contains data on the number of high school children who stopped going to school or dropped out from school. 

“We can improve our campaign to bring students back to school, because you know if ang bata is hago o kapoy is one of the factors maka affect sa iyang learning kana iyang fatigue,” said Ojastro.

(We can improve our campaign to bring students back to school, because if the child is tired from working, it will affect his or her capacity to learn.) 

DepEd also plans to tap the LGUs and other government agencies, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, so they can include parents and stakeholders in their educational programs. 

CBMS is a technology-based data collection and processing system that targets households and is used as a basis for poverty alleviation programs.

It entails a census of households undertaken by the LGU with the participation of the community using accelerated poverty profiling systems in the data. (JCT/PIA7 Negros Oriental)