A Tribute to Teachers 2008

A Tribute to Teachers 2008 Poster

This year, the Bato Balani Foundation and its corporate partners will hold A Tribute to Teachers, the largest gathering of educators in the Philippines, on September 27, 2008 at the SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia Complex.

More details to follow as the date approaches!

The Many Faces of the Teacher 2008

Filipino teachers are more than just plain civil servants. They are mentors and guidance counselors, second parents and friends. They hold in their hands the minds, attitudes and values of future generations.

 

Though we put so much importance on the quality and standards of education in our country, it seems that an education degree is less desirable compared to other more sought-after college courses. This is a challenge by itself and every year many NGO’s and foundations seek to inspire more students to go into the teaching profession and for more teachers to undergo the training that is needed to improve their skills through various programs.

 

One such activity is “The Many Faces of the Teacher”. It is a search for the teacher that best represents the nobility of the teaching profession and who garners the inspiration not only of his students but of each person and life that they encounter.

 

The search and the careful selection of each year’s nominees and finalists have beome a major program of the Bato Balani Foundation Inc (BBFI) when it launched its advocacy campaign for the Many Faces of the Teacher in 2003.

 

This year’s finalists compose of twelve of the most inspiring teachers that we have today. They are examples of ideal teachers – teachers who go beyond what is expected of them, because of their passion and commitment to their profession. The panel of judges or the Advocacy Review Board for this year is composed of: TMFT Honoree for 2004 Dr. Onofre Pagsanghan; Dr Maria Lim Ayuyao, President of the Foundation for Worldwide People Power; Peter Perfecto of the Philippine Business for Education, former DepEd Undersecretary Juan Miguel Luz and BBFI Chairman Saturnino G. Belen Jr.

 

The twelve finalists are:

 

Virgina Amanon, is a SPED teacher from Midsayap, Cotobato who has dedicated her life to teaching children with mental retardation. She has garnered numerous local awards for her contribution to her students and her community.

 

Jenelyn Baylon, is a Mobile teacher from Naujan, Oriental Mindoro. She travels distances to reach her students and as with all mobile teachers, they handle multi-level and multi-grade students and classes.

 

Leonides Bulalayao is a High School teacher from Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija. A consistent honor student from elementary to college she went on to contribute her knowledge through teaching. She has been the recipient of numerous awards for projects featuring innovative programs for teaching.

 

Simon Chua is a Principal/School Administrator from Zamboanga. The author of numerous books on Mathematics, he is also a sought after speaker and lecturer. His experience and affiliations extend to international as well as local organizations. He is also the first Filipino to be given the Pail Erdos Award granted by the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions.

 

Father Ewald Dinter from Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro has committed 40 years of his life to education and development in Mindoro and has lived among the Mangyans and served as their mentor and father figure. He travels as much as nineteen hours, sometimes on foot, to reach his Mangyan students.

 

Margarita Gabriel is from Macrohon, Southern Leyte. Through her guidance and tutelage, their school (Amparo elementary school) was one of the schools to top the National Achievement Tests.

 

Carmelito Lauron is a High School teacher from Consolacion, Cebu. He integrated the use of Information and communications technology (ICT) in teaching and created innovative ICT programs for use by both teachers and students which was recognized by their local government and other award giving bodies.

 

Enrico Morilla is a Mobile Teacher from Bataan. He has been given various awards and recognition for his innovative teaching methods and commitment to working with the Out of School Youth and Indigenous Youth specifically the Aetas in their community. His dedication has helped improve the lives of many students in Bataan.

 

Marcelo Otinguey is a High School teacher from La Trinidad, Benguet. Aside from his commitment as a teacher, he has given a lot of his time to youth development, cultural integration and has been recognized by various government agencies (DepEd, Civil Service Commission, Department of Tourism etc) for his work. He was also a finalist for the Gawad Genny Lopez award for dedicating his life in service for the poor.

 

Marjorie Palomo is the OIC of the Antonio Llamas Elementary School in Bataan. She has also been declared as the Most Outstanding Teacher in the Philippines by the Philippine Public School Teachers Association – one of the most extensive searches for outstanding teachers in the country. She has also consistently maintained high rankings for their school in the National Achievement Tests.

 

Armando Salarza has dedicated over 20 years of his life to music through the Las Pinas Boys Choir and the St. Josephs Academy, Bamboo Organ Foundation Inc. He gained his music and performing arts education from Vienna, Austria and has committed his profession to educating the youth and pushing for excellence in music and the arts.

 

Concepcion Tababa is a Mobile teacher from Tubungan, Iloilo. A multi-awarded teacher she has dedicated her life to the education of the youth and has worked with various NGO’s and LGU’s to promote the causes of the underprivileged.  

 

From the twelve, the list will go down to four. The final four honorees will be presented to the public on 27 September 2008 at the SMEX during Tribute to Teachers, an annual event that brings together the biggest gathering of teachers for a day of togetherness, inspiration and unity for the teaching profession.

 

For more information you may log on to www.batobalani.wordpress.com or email bbfi@diwamail.com.

 

Ching Jorge is the Director for Programs and Research of the Bato Balani Foundation Inc., a non-profit organization focused on uplifting the quality of education in the country. Email Ching at chingjorge@gmail.com.

 

IIE Lesson Plan Contest

It’s June once again, which means that another school year is just about ready to begin. With this in mind, the Philippine Daily Inquirer has launched a contest that may reward some lucky grade school and high school teachers with laptops for their creativity:

To jumpstart the new school year, Inquirer in Education (IIE) is conducting a search for the best and most exciting teacher-created lesson plans using the pages of the Inquirer as primary source.

The IIE Lesson Plan Contest will be giving away a laptop computer every month for the next six months starting in July to the most creative Inquirer-based study guides [...].

The contest is open to all active teachers in grade and high schools throughout the Philippines, whether public or private.

The lesson plan must be original, unpublished, clear, concise and preferably adaptable for grades 4-7 and high school years 1-4. It should come with an activity sheet for students and, where applicable, must include extension activities.

More information about the contest is available in the June 2, 2008 edition of the Inquirer (section I1), via email (learning@inquirer.com.ph), or at the Inquirer Website.

Education for All by 2015, Will we make it?

As published in the Opinion section, Page A13, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 5 April 2008

UNESCO, through its Education for All initiative, posed questions in its Global Monitoring Report on the challenges facing efforts to achieve its target for 2015. The report, aptly titled “Education for All by 2015, Will We Make It?” shows developments in a global scale and cites highlights in each region, in our case, East Asia.

The question that we should ask ourselves is this, “Are we there yet?” EFA [Education for All] has six areas of concern: early childhood care and education, universal primary education, learning needs of young people and adults, adult literacy, gender equality and quality of education. According to the report, the Philippines—along with Cambodia, Guatemala, India and Nicaragua—has notably increased access to pre-primary education. The Adopt-A-School policy has been credited as a contributor to this positive development; incentives are provided to organizations that support this policy. The areas that still need improvement include quality of education, teacher-student ratios, gender equality and adult literacy.

Many organizations focus their efforts on the primary level: Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation focuses its reading program on Grade 4 students. Union Bank of the Philippines addresses the needs of Grade 2 and 3 students in reading and values formation. The Bright Minds Read program of Ronald McDonald House Charities focuses on Grade 1 students. Petron Foundation’s Tulong Aral, which provides scholarships and meal allowances to Grade 1-6 students, recently had its first batch of graduates; under this very successful program, which was started six years ago, 1,000 students were able to graduate. Gawad Kalinga’s Sibol schools focus on the needs of preschool children in our marginalized sectors. Bato Balani Foundation has partnered with many of these organizations and provides educational materials and training for teachers and librarians, with focus on the primary and secondary level. Other organizations have also begun to set aside funds to enhance the quality of Math and Science education in both the primary and secondary level. There are many more organizations that deserve credit; many of them are corporate foundations which donate up to P1 billion annually to the cause of quality education.

If we take a look at the National Achievement Tests for Grade 6, its results in school year 2005-2006 show an overall Mean Percentage Score (MPS) of 54.5 percent, a decline from the previous year of 58.7 percent. But in school year 2006-2007, the overall MPS rose to 59.94 percent. As to the national ranking, the top 10—out of 186 participating provinces and cities in all regions—were: (in order) Southern Leyte, Ormoc City, Batangas, Digos City, Balanga City, Romblon, Maasin City, Eastern Samar, Calapan City, Siargao. In the National Capital Region, the Makati recorded the highest MPS (37th in the national ranking), while Quezon City got the lowest (146th in the national ranking). Sulu ranked 186th nationally.

The performance of the different provinces and cities indicate that collaboration between and among schools, communities and local government units is effective. EFA has recognized the distinct role and contribution of civil society in pushing for reforms and in providing aid and support for education. But education reform can be made more effective if we establish systems and processes for multi-sector collaboration with the local government as the “lead arm.”

Therefore, politicizing education reform makes a lot of sense. There are many initiatives and programs seen to be effective in improving the quality of education—all with very valid and laudable objectives; and the Department of Education has taken initiatives—most recently with the Education Summit—to bring together all sectors and get inputs for reform. Unfortunately, policy statements only end up just that—as policy statements. Cascading the implementation process down to the lowest level in the educational hierarchy needs to be seen and the local governments need to take a larger role in education reform.

As we move closer to the national elections in 2010, education stakeholders in the public and private sectors must begin to consider mobilizing campaigns pushing for education as a priority and critical agenda in political platforms. The voting public, most particularly the youth, must make the education agenda a major criterion for supporting political parties and individuals in both the national and local levels. We must make sure that political statements made on education during the election campaign are backed by solid data and speak of doable programs that can effect change in the education system; in other words, they must not remain as statements.

As the Foundation for Worldwide People Power puts it, we need an Education Revolution.

With proper policies, strong and consistent leadership in education, and the support of local governments and collaboration with the community and civil society, we might actually make some if not all the targets for EFA in 2015.

Natalie Christine “Ching” Jorge is the VP/Director for Programs and Research of the Bato Balani Foundation Inc. Jorge is also the lead convenor for the Young Public Servants (YPS-InciteGov) and chair of the Research committee of the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF). For comments/inquiries email: chingjorge@gmail.com or bbfi@diwamail.com, www.batobalani.wordpress.com, www.yps.org.ph.

BBFI Donates P32M Worth of Books in 2007

More than fifty organizations and institutions received over Php 32 Million worth of educational materials in 2007 through the Bato Balani Foundation’s Tulong Sa Paaralan, Tulay sa Kaunlaran program (TSP-TSK).

Since 1993, TSP-TSK has been providing deserving schools and communities nationwide with access to quality textbooks, educational materials and multimedia programs and content. Beneficiaries include public schools, NGO’s, local government units and corporate foundations with adopted schools, communities or reading programs. Partner organizations who are provided materials by the foundation usually distribute the materials to their own adopted schools and communities, providing a wider reach to deserving schools and students.

How to Change the World

[Cross-post from Brain Drain.]

At a time when corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship and private philanthropy have moved front and center in the public consciousness, David Bornstein has put together a valuable resource by way of his book, How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurship and the Power of New Ideas.

Teacher Programs Win Anvil for Third Straight Year

The Many Faces of the Teacher and A Tribute to Teachers were big winners at the recently concluded 43rd Anvil Awards of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines. Both programs, organized by Diwa Learning Systems in cooperation with the Bato Balani Foundation, were recognized with Anvil Awards for Excellence.

The BBFI staff are naturally humbled to have our programs honored in this way, and proudly share this achievement with our different partners that have helped make these programs a success.

Press release follows after the break.

The Many Faces of the Teacher 2008: The Search Begins!

The Bato Balani Foundation (BBFI), in cooperation with Diwa Learning Systems, is pleased to announce that the search for The Many Faces of the Teacher advocacy program of 2008 is now ongoing.

As in the past, partner organizations, school associations, religious organizations, the Department of Education, school heads, students and teachers are welcome to nominate educators they feel are true role models of the teaching profession.

Nominations will be evaluated by an Advocacy Review Board convened by BBFI, consisting of leading figures in Philippine education and corporate social responsibility. In making their selection, the Board shall use as its criteria: the person’s integrity and morality; relations with students, colleagues, community members and family; commitment and dedication to the teaching vocation; strength of values/principles applied in teaching and personal life; and involvement in school and community activities.

Nominations can be obtained via the Diwa website or in hard copy at the Bato Balani Foundation office.

Second Thoughts: Necessary, not Sufficient

Leave it to seasoned educator and former DepEd Secretary Edilberto de Jesus to pen an article that hits two birds with one stone.

In his February 18, 2008 OpEd column for the Manila Bulletin, de Jesus wrote about the 1000 Teachers Program launched by Philippine Business for Education and also touched on the prevailing scandals of government corruption that have made front page news of late. The ingenious element of the piece lies in his argument that the two are related: precisely because there are inefficiencies in and leakages from government funds, education does not get properly financed. It is for this reason that private groups such as PBEd have to step in, despite the fact that their philanthropic contributions pale in comparison to the amounts budgeted from government coffers.

In this regard, de Jesus makes the sobering argument that generating enough funds is a necessary but not sufficient condition to improving education in the country; of even greater import is putting what funds are available to good use.

For all its simplicity, de Jesus offers a thoroughly engaging take on the issue that makes for worthwhile reading.

Quality Teacher, Vol. 11 Nos. 2 and 3

This is a belated announcement: the second and third issues of Quality Teacher (Vol. 11) are already available!

The second issue for the 2007-2008 academic year, released in September/October 2007, focuses on the matter of teaching discipline. Features in the issue include, among others, “old-school” versus “new school” discipline, making student discipline work, discipline from the standpoint of values education, and how to help aspiring achievers obtain scholarships.

Just released, QT Vol. 11 No. 3 takes a closer look at cheating in the academic setting. Features look into the nature of academic dishonesty, cheating in the digital age, and the prospect of insulating the educational system from cheating-related scandals. There are also practical tips not just about how to catch cheaters, but also how keep cheating from happening in classroom to begin with.

For subscription inquiries and more information about the magazine in general or these issues in particular, kindly send an email to bbfi@diwamail.com or qteacher@diwamail.com, or leave a comment below.