Access to Education through Multi-Stakeholder Support.
Section 7
SEC. 7. Access to Education through Multi-Stakeholder Support . - To ensure access to education in Last Mile and GIDA Schools, the DepEd shall collaborate with concerned national government agencies (NGAs), LGUs, civil society organizations (CSOs) and other stakeholders, including the following: (a) LGUs and CSOs, for the construction, upgrading, and community-based support of Last Mile and GIDA Schools, including construction of local/provincial roads leading to such schools; (b) DPWH, for the construction of access roads, particularly national highways, connecting local roads or leading to the location of Last Mile and GIDA Schools; (c) Department of Energy (DOE) and National Electrification Administration (NEA), for the installation and provision of electricity; (d) Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), for the installation of information and communications technology and connectivity; (e) National Commission on Indigenous Peoples NCIP), for compliance with the process of obtaining the FPIC of concerned ICCs/IPs in cases where a Last Mile and GIDA School or access road is to be established within ancestral domains; (f) Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Local Water Utilities Administration (LUWA) or relevant water regulatory units, for the provision of adequate and safe water; and (g) Department of Transportation (DOTr), in coordination with LGUs, for ensuring the availability of safe, reliable, and accessible public transportation services to and from Last Mile and GIDA Schools, including the planning, development, and coordination of transport routes and services aligned with access road and local conditions. The support for Last Mile and GIDA Schools and their access roads within ancestral domains shall be undertaken in consideration of the rights of the concerned ICCs/IPs to their ancestral domain and to FPIC, in accordance with Republic Act No. 8371. For purposes of implementing partnerships under Section 7(a), the DepEd shall establish guidelines for the engagement of CSOs through Memoranda of Agreement and other community-based partnership modalities, adopting context-responsive and streamlined procedures to facilitate timely delivery of school infrastructure in GIDA areas. The DepEd may likewise engage the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the construction of Last Mile and GIDA School infrastructure in priority, conflict-affected, disaster-prone, or hard-to-reach-areas.