A complete entrepreneurship program for senior high school

During President Ferdinand Marcos’ so-called “Bagong Lipunan” governance, the pet project of his First Lady Imelda Marcos was the “Sariling Sikap” livelihood projects. Her budget was so generous and yet it did not work as planned because the system was not fully developed. It should have just sustained the DECS (Department of Education, Culture and Sports) Work Education entrepreneurship program, which was then required in all high schools including public schools.

If all efforts have been focused on making the DECS Work Education program succeed, then perhaps we won’t have schools offering secretarial courses that do not have enough typewriters, dressmaking classes that do not provide fabrics, cosmetology class without wash-basins and water for shampooing lessons, and a food technology course without a well-equipped kitchen.

1966-76: The beginnings and preparation for high school food enterprise

The first decade of the Operation Brotherhood Montessori school operation, 1966-1976, saw the establishment of the O.B. Montessori preschool and elementary school with its corresponding teacher training programs. The manufacture of the required standardized Montessori apparata began, using materials I bought from Gonzaga, Italy and the Nienhuis factory in Holland as patterns.

Montessori education requires a fully equipped “Prepared Environment” to condition students to work and get things done. All tools must be complete, presentable, and functional. However, in 1975, when O.B. Montessori Center, then complete with both preschool and grade school, transferred and made its permanent headquarters at the Arellano compound in Greenhills, our “Prepared Environment” was somewhat crude. We could not afford then a school building with complete equipment, so we made do with the residential house and four-door apartments of the late PAF Chief of Staff General Arellano.

Home Arts for grades 4 to 7 is not aimed at making money

In Sandy Araneta’s article last July 2006, entitled “Public school students to study entrepreneurship soon,” he reported, “The ‘Go Negosyo Campaign Teen Edition’ was introduced by the Department of Education and private entrepreneurs, a program the DepEd will begin pilot testing in some public schools and hopefully, in some ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS as well.”

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Articles recognizing and respecting the true nature of grade school children with their strong intelligence and morals, believe that this stage of growth should focus on “learning how to learn.” Thus, poor families should be redirected so that they do not turn their children into sidewalk/street vendors at odd hours of the day and night, when they should be at home or in school. It should be the parents working, but the fathers are usually drunkards and the mothers just sit around while bossing the small children and letting them look for customers.

By the time we started Grade IV, I introduced a special curriculum called Home Arts. It was much more than the DECS Home Economics curriculum, which was usually a bit of cooking and bit of sewing or embroidery. Home Arts for Grades IV to VII is not aimed at making money, but to prepare the children for a comprehensive program for the home and the family: Filipino cooking, Housekeeping, Grooming and Hygiene, Family Care from infancy, adolescence to adulthood.

1976-1986: Adding money making culinary activities

For years, I have been planning to establish Dr. Montessori’s vision of a professional high school to satisfy the natural inclination of adolescent students for economic independence. She believed that human development has not kept pace with technological and scientific progress.

To introduce them to professional culinary service, I arranged the field trips to the Philippine Airlines kitchen and tours at five-star hotel food outlets. The high school students also started the Rainbow Catering Services for preschoolers. For three years, they were only able to contract a few parties, serving ice cream and cakes. Marketing strategy was missing. They were more successful with the annual food fair in December with Hawaiian, Japanese or American themes. They also prepared P25 lunches for an average of 50 students and teachers who made regular orders.

When I lived in Italy for two years, I got used to my padrona serving three course meals for lunch with wine: brood (soup); carne pollo o pesce con insalata (meat, chicken or fish dish with fresh salad) and fruits of the season – This is the typical European food service in the tratoria or in the university mensa (mess hall). Thus, I added the unique experience of the European way of eating by letting my junior high school students prepare a sit-down dinner of three courses complete with wine in my own house. This was a free treat for their parents.

The class was divided into four groups to prepare the environment: the purchaser to marketer; the cooks; the waiter; and the housekeepers, who washed the dishes and made sure my house would be restored to order. For three years, I let them use my collection of Wedgewood, Limoges or Italian chinaware, silverware and crystals.

1986-1987: Finally the real professional high school

In 1986, Martial Law ended and bank loan interest was unusually low. We were able to build two four-story buildings. The first high school graduates were able to use the modern kitchen with four well-equipped bays complete with refrigerators and freezers, as well as four ovens with burners. The school balcony adjacent to it, the Café Lycee Jasmin had “art nouveau” counters and stools to accommodate 20 customers for each of the three lunch sittings.

The Food Service curriculum was perfected: Freshmen focused on Science in the Kitchen. Sophomores combined Nutrition and Catering with more preschool students as customers. Junior students prepared banquet dinner in the school lobby. Senior students specialized in Food Technology learning to process meat, and prepare bottled or cured food such as tocino, chorizo, ham, jams and marmalades. Months before December, they increase the volume of production for the Food Fair and Minimart.

The Food Fair and Minimart in December involves the whole high school department. By year 2000, it included the OBMC College Culinary students whose practice was in our Ristorante La Dolce Fontana and, therefore, provided a variety of packed pastas and pizzas. Christmas cakes and cookies in their pretty boxes were very saleable. They took charge of al fresco dining with grilled steak and Gindara fish. Every year, this has attracted the attendance of guests from several private and public schools, including officials form the Department of Education, TESDA, and CHED. Now, the other OBMC branches in Sta. Ana, Las Pinas and Angeles hold their own Food Fair.

Real entrepreneurship – professional service plus income

How much does the Minimart earn? Between 1990 to 2000, using capital from the school, students earn a profit that provided encouraging income. Profits earned go to the improvement of the Prepared Environment of the cafeterias.

Today, the Rainbow Catering Club has involved students from first to fourth year high school students catering to both preschool and primary grade school students. Since the full package includes invitation, a unique menu, caterers and emcee dressed in clown costumes, parlor games and giveaways, parents prefer them to McDonalds or Jollibee party package. Costing P4,300 for a class of 30 students, this includes a costume for the birthday child whether it is a Clown, Indian, Disney or “Fiesta sa Nayon” theme.

The European-style dinner no longer uses my house. It is an annual formal dinner-show with a theme usually held in February by the third year high school students at the 8th floor Maria Montessori Theater-Hall in Greenhills, Teatro Maximo in OB Angeles, Bistro San Francesco in OB, Las Pinas and Foro Romano in OB, Sta. Ana. Tagged today as “Fine Dining,” they charge P350 per guest. In the past few years, the students’ guests have increased to 400. Parents, relatives, friends and alumni eagerly make reservations to watch the student chefs, waiters, ushers and stage people perform. A student band would provide dinner music.

No shortcut to a successful entrepreneurship program

It has been almost 45 years now since I developed the O.B. Montessori Professional High School’s Entrepreneurship Program. Now continuously improving, we easily hold the event every year. The formula in achieving such a program depends on four important factors: the Prepared Environment to suit the business enterprise; sourcing investment from the school or parents; the accounting system; and the skilled teachers. The usual preparation of modules to make students learn how to run a business without practice will never work out. The secret of success lies in the repeated practice with constructive criticism until the program perfects itself with the students.

All these factors are important in preparing the livelihood training for the K to 12 program.