OUR public school education system is as only as good as our teachers. While huge strides in have been made in developing quality education in the Philippines, the critical area of teacher training remains to be the essential missing link in basic education reform.
City Savings Bank (CitySavings) partnered with Alchemy Education Solutions, Inc. through Project TEACH, the bank’s signature corporate social responsibility (CSR) project, which focuses on teacher training solution and comprehensive school based training package to ensure that what is learned by the teacher is applied in the classroom.
Last January 27, Project TEACH: Educator Empowerment Program had its formal program launch and initial orientation at the Betty Go Belmonte Elementary School, Quezon City which was attended by over 80 school representatives from the divisions of Bacoor City, Cavite, Dasmarinas City, San Pablo City, NCR, Mandaluyong City, and Quezon City.
The program allows teachers to train regularly and are given the opportunity to make learning a habit and therefore develop their lifelong learning potential, which is key to imparting a lifelong learning culture to students who need to improve on academic performance. The program is aligned with the Department of Education’s (DepEd) National Competency-Based Teachers Standard (NCBTS), Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST), the K to 12 Curriculum, and Learning Actions Cells (LACs) model for teacher in-service training.
“The Project TEACH: Educator Empowerment Program believes that schools are as good as their teachers. And this program is especially for you, and as not all schools are chosen you are very lucky that you belong to this batch.” said Dr. Dinah Mindo, Director for Curriculum of Alchemy Education Solutions, in her welcome remarks.
CitySavings Director Carlos Valarao further stressed that “Teachers matter. The Educator 6R training system is an effective training model that makes it fun and easy for the teachers to share their experiences and learn from each other.”
Dr. Vicky Mayo, Chief of Policy, Program and Research of DepEd National Capital Region, encouraged the participants in her closing remarks saying “I believe in continuous improvement. And this program is one of them. The theory of change tells us that we have to adopt to whatever is happening at the moment. Share your learnings. What is important is that we learn and grow from each other. We only bring our students to where we want them to be. If you want to make a difference in their lives, then you will be the best teacher that you can be.”
CitySavings’ project will be implemented in several public schools in Metro Manila and Calabarzon, providing year-long training to 1,500 teachers in these two regions. (Paula Viegelmann-Ruelan/PR)