Dr. Paul Yew Hua Choo is the founder and chairman of Goducate Limited, a Singapore-based not-for-profit organization with projects in nine Asian countries that include China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Mynmar, India, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, and Vietnam. Goducate is coined from two words, “ Go and Educate”. Its avowed purpose is to help needy Asians help themselves.
Born in Singapore on 29 July 1947, Dr. Choo obtained his elementary and secondary education from the Anglo-Chinese School. He graduated from the Medical Faculty, University of Singapore (renamed National University of Singapore) and qualified as a medical doctor in 1971. He was conferred with honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Bob Jones University, South Carolina, USA in 1998.
Goducate started working with Tranca Elementary School in Tranca, Laguna, in the first quarter of 2012, with a feeding program that, after 6 months, resulted in 95% of the students attaining their appropriate weight. The success of this program led the school to invite Goducate to join them in other programs.
In the school’s farming program, Goducate taught the students and teacher hydroponic and aquaponic gardening, and the school’s principal and teacher in charge of farming visited the Goducate Model Farm to learn more about growing vegetables. The school won first place for the Most Clean and Green Program and the Gulayan sa Paaralan Competition, which Mrs Cora Ortiz, the school’s principal acknowledged was in part due to the partnership with Goducate.
Goducate has also helped the school in its Moral Recovery program. When camps or seminars are held as part of this program, Goducate has been invited to participate.
Recently when the Multiple Intelligence International School from Metro Manila visited Tranca Elementary School to do some tree planting, Goducate was invited along for the event as well as to give a lecture on hydroponics.
The Department of Education’s District Supervisor has acknowledged Goducate’s contribution to the work at Tranca Elementary School by giving us a Certificate of Recognition as a partner in education. In addition it has taken on one of our literacy teachers onto their kindergarten staff.
More recently, Tranca Elementary School offered Goducate the use of their old administrative building for a Goducate Literacy Center, which now caters for 14 students. In appreciation of this favor, Goducate gave a school a computer.
The newest development in the partnership is the Voice lessons that Goducate is starting for the students of Tranca Elementary, who are learning forward to learning how to sing better.
Since February the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo has partnered with neighboring primary and secondary schools to hold remedial classes for those children who need help to cope with their schoolwork. Every week, each GTC trainee coaches 5-7 pupils in mathematics and English. At the end of the 5-week program, the teachers found that most of the pupils had improved noticeably in these subjects.
To aid these students further, 2 weeks ago the Goducate Training Center held a 3-day camp to help the children improve their oral English. The camp was also an avenue for GTC trainees to learn to teach English in creative ways. Learning was made fun through songs and activities. With a camp theme of Jungle Fun, the 70 campers, aged 9-13, were divided into four animal groups. Teamwork was encouraged through competitions, and throughout the camp good values such as friendliness, politeness, creativity, and a willingness to participate were reinforced. Tokens were given out for efforts made to speak English, and these tokens could be swopped for goods from the jungle store.
One of the highlights of this camp was the skills class. Students could choose to attend a session on electricity, container gardening, pastry making, craft, crochet, playing the recorder, hairstyling, first-aid, and acting. Everyone enjoyed the last night when they presented what they had learnt during the skills class. This summer will be fun for them, because follow-up activity through games and English and skills classes will start in the first week of April. Since most of the children come from poor families, some of the skills learnt might even turn out to be a means of livelihood for them.
As GTC trainees handled these kids, they learnt to be loving and patient to them. They were not just teachers who gave commands but leaders and friends. One comment of mother from the community was that, “My child really liked the camp because her teacher really loved her”.
English classGroup gameGTC trainee having meal with campers
Dr. Paul Yew Hua Choo is the founder and chairman of Goducate Limited, a Singapore-based not-for-profit organization with projects in nine Asian countries that include China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Mynmar, India, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, and Vietnam. Goducate is coined from two words, “ Go and Educate”. Its avowed purpose is to help needy Asians help themselves.
