Philippines – Page 39 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2015-09-182015-09-18

Goducate Scholar becomes secondary school teacher

In March this year, 7 out of 41 Goducate scholars in the 2014-15 batch graduated from various universities in the Philippines. This Goducate Scholarship Program in Laguna, sponsored by a Goducate supporter, pays for the tuition fees of students from very low income families who are in the Goducate music program. In return the scholar helps in the music program as well as in Goducate community programs.

One of these graduates was Kimberly Cabalfin, who was orphaned at age 10. She lives with her aunts and grandmother, and with their help she finished her high-school education but they could not support her through college. Kimberly plays the violin and qualified for a Goducate scholarship. As a Goducate scholar she helped children to play the recorder.

Kimberly graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education, with a major in Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE), from Laguna State Polytechnic University in Los Banos. She was a Goducate scholar throughout her 4 years in college.

She is now a TLE teacher in Calamba, Laguna, teaching grade 8-10 students. With this job she is able to help her aunts and grandmother with household expenses and to give her grandmother a monthly allowance.

Kimberly also continues to help Goducate whenever we have a youth camp and whenever the music department has an event.

2015-08-282015-08-31

Goducate literacy centers in Laguna celebrate Nutrition Day 2015

Every July is Nutrition Month in the Philippines. The 4 Goducate Literacy Centers in Laguna jointly held a Nutrition Day event at the Goducate Training Center. The theme for this year’s Nutrition Month was Timbang iwasto sa tamang nutrisyon at ehersisyo (Proper weight through right nutrition and exercise). It was chosen to emphasize the problem of obesity among Filipinos.

The program began with a parade of the children wearing their costumes of different vegetables. Then Mrs. Liza Espanola, one of the teachers, shared with the parents how children achieve their correct weight through proper nutrition and proper physical exercises.

The literacy centers in Puy-puy and Mabacan contributed to the program by singing “Bahay Kubo” (a Filipino children’s folk song about various vegetable plants around a nipa hut), and the Sta.Cruz and Lalao centers danced to the song of “Makulay ang buhay sa sinabawang (colorful life with vegetable soup).

2015-08-212015-08-26

Goducate candidates in Laguna pass ALS exams

Part of Goducate’s literacy program in Laguna, Philippines, is to help people through the Philippines Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System (ALS). The ALS allows those who have not completed their conventional schooling to continue their education. Those who pass the secondary level ALS examination can qualify for tertiary education.

In 2014 Goducate Laguna had 8 students preparing for the ALS, 6 at secondary and 2 at elementary level. From June 2014, they met twice a week for 4 hours each time, under the instruction of Mechie Decinal, a Goducate volunteer who had just qualified as a certified ALS instruction manager.

The students took their examinations in December. The results were announced in June this year. 2 of our students passed, both at secondary level. They were 2 of the 27 in the town of Bay who passed, out of 102 who took the examination at secondary level. In the 2013 exams, Goducate candidates also did relatively well—4 of the 19 successful candidates in Bay were Goducate students (see Feb 28, 2014 blog).

One of the successful candidates was Jelmar Lobusto, aged 25, who had been brought up in an orphanage and had completed his secondary schooling there, but the academy at the orphanage was not one accredited by the Philippines Department of Education.

The other successful candidate this year was Bernardo Endonila, aged 42, who had to drop out of school at 15 to help his parents earn a living for the family. He has 5 children (2 of whom are in the Goducate music program), and drives a rented jeepney. A jeepney is a highly decorated jeep-like vehicle used as a form of public transport in the Philippines.

Both these men are planning to take courses held by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). Goducate will continue to assist them in fulfilling their dreams.

Jelmar (in white at back) and Bernardo (in blue in foreground) during tutorial