CommuniTeach to benefit Naga City's underprivileged school kids

MANILA, Philippines - Dubbed as the heart of the Bicol Region, Naga City takes pride in its commitment to ensure quality education for its children — from the privileged to even the most deprived.

Towards that goal, the Naga City government is adopting CommuniTeach in partnership with Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart).

CommuniTeach promotes the active participation of the community in improving learning among the lowest-performing students in their public elementary schools.

Smart initiated CommuniTeach to complement the Department of Education’s (DepEd) DORP or Drop Out Reduction Program. National statistics show that for every 100 pupils who enter Grade 1, only 86 proceed to Grade 2. By Grade 4, only 76 remain in school. By Grade 6, only 67 of the original 100 are left, with only 65 finishing elementary school.   

“We are very optimistic that the CommuniTeach program will succeed here in Naga City,” says Stephanie Orlino, Smart Public Affairs Community Partnerships manager.

The first in Naga City to benefit from CommuniTeach are Grades 1 to 3 students from Pacol Elementary School and Triangulo Elementary School. These students belong to the bottom percentile of their respective grade levels, based on the results of the National Achievement Test and the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory. 

Forty students per school will attend learning sessions that will be held every Saturday. Expected output by the end of the year is for all student beneficiaries to be able to read, and at least 70 percent of them to demonstrate improved reading skills based on the pre-and post-tests and assessment tests during the learning sessions.

The principals of both public elementary schools agree that CommuniTeach can help address the prevailing problems of rampant absenteeism and an increase in dropout rate. Because of lack of money, the students are often unable to attend their classes. 

“Although our student-to-teacher ratio is low, about half of the class still cannot catch up with the lessons because most of them come to school hungry. They are not able to absorb the lectures throughout the day,” says Maria Fe Hermosura, principal of Triangulo Elementary School.

“In our school, most of the students are children of farmers.  They walk five kilometers each day to go to school.  Children who forget to bring their ‘baon’ have to go home during lunchtime. Because of the distance, most of them no longer return to school for their afternoon classes,” adds Solomon Sales, principal of Pacol Elementary School. 

Smart’s partners in Naga include the city government headed by Mayor John Bongat, who has pledged to fund operational expenses for the second and third years of the program. For the first year, expenses are already covered by a donation from Deutche Regis Partners, Inc., one of Smart’s corporate partners in its efforts to promote education for underprivileged children. 

Ateneo de Naga University shall provide a steady stream of teaching volunteers and manage on-ground operations. 

Volunteers from beneficiary schools and the children’s parents will maintain the venue for the learning sessions and handle the cooking and preparation of food for the feeding component of the program. 

Regular CommuniTeach partners also on board are the Philippine Business for Social Progress and Silid Aralan, Inc. (SAI) which is responsible for developing the learning technology used in mentoring the school kids. Supporting the endeavor is DepEd.

“This program can help the schools perform better in National Achievement Tests. I want the schools to reach at least top three in the region. Also, it complements our program that focuses on Math, Science, and English.  The training modules of this program will also help in our materials augmentation campaign,” says Mayor Bongat.

 CommuniTeach is a great help to single mother Esther Salvador and her Grade 1 daughter Sheila Marie. “I am a Baranggay Point Service Officer, and I work all day during weekdays.  I have limited time to tutor my child, and I cannot afford to hire one for her.  With this program, my child will be given ample attention in order to catch up in school.”  

In preparation for the learning sessions set to start in January 2011, teachers and parents participating in Naga City’s CommuniTeach program have completed their orientation and training.

Among those who signed up is Anna Pompuso, grandmother of Christian Pompuso, a Grade 1 student at Triangulo Elementary School. “I want to make sure that my grandson gets passing grades in school. With this program, I am sure that he will be able to focus more.”