MARYDEN Ocot, the longtime early childhood care and development officer of Misamis Oriental, is continuing to work on her vision to capacitate child development workers all over the province.
This was one of the points Ocot revealed during the weekly Meet the Press of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club last July 8 at SM CDO Downtown.
The Provincial ECCD Department consistently organized training, seminars, and capability-building activities for CDWs across Misamis Oriental. These were designed to ensure that workers from different municipalities were implementing the same ECCD standards rather than relying on varying local practices.
One indicator that this strategy was working is that Misamis Oriental’s PECCD became a benchmarking site for other LGUs, with delegations visiting to study its ECCD practices.
“That’s why our child development centers have monkey bars and seesaws. This is part of our thrust under Gov. Juliette Uy which is Every Child Belongs,” she said.
Ocot – a nurse by profession – supervises 757 centers in the whole province catering to almost 25,000 students.
This is a far cry from the ideal 1:10 teacher-student ratio but so far they have adapted.
“Each session lasts only three hours. So we divide the day into several sessions so each child is accommodated,” Ocot said.
As of June this year, six more child development centers are in construction. They are located mostly in Gingoog City, Medina and Talisayan and all of these structures are strictly inspected by Ocot’s staff.
This initiative aims to assess the progress and quality of imprlemented projects, ensuring that they meed the standards to enhance early childhood care and development (ECCD) in the area with the inspection process involving site visits and consultations with local stakeholders.
The Misamis Oriental ECCD department is also on track with their three-year roadmap that will kick off in 2027 under Uy’s governorship.
“Together, we continue creating brighter beginnings for every child,” Ocot said.
