The City Social Welfare and Development Office awarded the best child development worker, who excelled in their line of service during the Child Development Workers Day conducted on July 18, 2023, at People’s Park.
Junito A. Tumanding, a child development worker from Barangay Suawan, Marilog District, bested 14 other day care workers from 15 districts during the awarding, organized by the CSWDO.
Tumanding serves as a CDW at the Unapan Child Development Center. Among his best practices is the delivery of learning materials to absent children who live far from the center and the enrollment of one-year-olds in day care.
“Super happy kaayo ko kay wala ko naga-expect nga makadawat ko ani. Nag-decide ko muapil aning best day care worker tungod para manindot ang among center and ma-enhance pud ang akoang kaugalingon (I am so happy. I did not expect to receive this. I decided to join the best day care worker contest to improve our center and also improve my self),” Tumanding said, adding that he owes the success to the support of the barangay officials, family members, and the whole community.
CSWDO Children’s Welfare and Youth Division Head Gilda SalvaƱa, in an interview after the awarding, said that the event was conducted to give value to the contribution of child development workers of Davao City.
“The highlight gyud nato sa atong activity karon is search for the Best Child Development Worker for Davao City and naa pud ta’y gipatigayon nga Zumba contest per district and naa pud ta’y larong pinoy (The highlight of our activity is the search for the Best Child Development Worker for Davao City and we also conducted a Zumba contest in each district and also larong Pinoy),” SalvaƱa said.
She said that the screening for the Best Child Development Worker was tedious as the search was from the barangay to the district level before it reached the city level.
“Naa ta’y gisunod nga nga criteria first [atong gi-check] ang mga document nga gire-require nato sa Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) nga program and then gitan-aw pud nato ang pag conduct sa ilahang session kadtong gina-ingon nato nga classroom management ang ilahang participation and involvement dinha sa ilahang barangay as regards sa ilang civic involvement and kadtong mga best practices then ang atong trainings nga giagian sa atong child day care workers (We followed the criteria, we first checked the documents that we require for the early childhood care and development program and we also checked how they conduct their session, the one we call classroom management, their participation and involvement in the barangay for their civic involvement and also best practices and then the trainings they underwent as child day care workers),” SalvaƱa said.
SalvaƱa added that overall, the activity was successful as it met its goal to thank child development workers and acknowledge their efforts and contribution, not just for themselves but for the welfare of children aged 3-4 years old. She believes that values acquired by children in the early stage of development through the ECCD are the things
that they’ll bring as they grow old.
“Makabenefit pud niani ang atong siyudad then atoang tibuok nasud and kalibutan pinaagi niining ginagmay nila [child development workers’] nga contribution yet very vital para sa atoang mga bata (The whole city will benefit from this and also the whole country and this is through the child development worker’s very simple and yet very vital contribution to our children’ [growth]),” SalvaƱa said. CIO
