Author Topic: Group pays kids to stir interest in reading  (Read 215 times)

joan.ligalig

  • EXPERT
  • ***
  • Posts: 2965
    • View Profile
Group pays kids to stir interest in reading
« on: May 02, 2020, 11:22:55 AM »
DAVAO CITY -- A school run by an organization has a different way of stirring children's interest to read by paying them when they visit the center and read during their free time.
Tancho Baes, executive director of “Hope for the Nation Philippines”, said the children’s reading club has a twist. The organization which Baes heads is an affiliate of global organization of Hope of the Nation in Canada.
“We pay our children to read with us with the objective that we want them to be fluent in English, have good reading comprehension and articulate communicator,” Baes said.
But Baes stressed reading is just part of a whole approach which the organization adopted in transforming a community of informal settlers and making the children become leaders in the future.
He said the organization has an innovative school adopting the home school style of teaching the children. The kids learn at their own pace and each child has a laptop which they use while in school.
There are 150 enrolled in the school with two teachers and a principal who are also learning facilitators. He said he makes sure the school complies with the requirements of the Department of Education (DepEd) for they have students from pre-school to Grade 12.
Their long-term plan is to offer courses in public administration, governance, peace building. Part of the plan is to teach them the basics of law, economics, accounting, ethics, entrepreneurship and leadership.
"Our school is really different from other schools because our goal is to be able to raise these children to become like leaders where as early as 6 years old we want them to already think as leaders," he said.
"The bottomline really is that we want the kids to go into public service that is why in our school we offer courses in public administration, governance, peace building, economics, law because at the end of this program the profile of a successful child must have a heart for God, for this country and the passion to serve thus we have very different approach," he added.
In relation to the reading program, Baes said the school proceeds are deposited in the Hope Bank of the school that is run by children. The bank has a set of officers, board of directors and advisors selected from among the children as part of their training.
He said the initial money of P700 from the reading program has grown to P24,000 through their income generating projects. In 11 months of operating the said bank, the kids are planning to put up a convenient store soon with the help of the Church in Canada which pledged to provide the capital.
The children found a space which they will rent using their available money. Every Saturday night, Baes said the children hold a night market where they sell used clothing, food, and school supplies.
"They are starting to develop jewelry-making and trinkets also that they might sell here and even in Canada," he said.
Baes said the organization also works with the parents for sustainable income through urban container gardening. Already, owners of Nanay Bebeng and Chippens wanted the organization to supply them daily with 80 kilos pechay.
The container gardening, he said is being supported by the Hope Tours where they rent out van and the proceeds go to the gardening project.
“We are expanding our production area where we grow the vegetables in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes,” he said. The organization already added lettuce in their garden.
He said they will be partnering with adjacent property owners whose area they could spare for their vegetable growing. The Agdao area is the organization’s laboratory for technology transfer to children and parents and the bigger area is in Inangan in Calinan where they partner with the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry and the Philippine Coconut Authority, he said.
Baes said the organization piloted the program on transformation in San Vicente, Agdao district with 1,500 families participating although they cater to eight other areas of informal settlers in the city.
"We want to develop a template in San Vicente where we can replicate it to other areas," he said, adding that the organization’s vision is to see San Vicente as a transformed community that has a school, a house of faith and equipped with skills training programs for parents and children. (Digna D. Banzon/PNA)

* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com



Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=106153.0

unionbank online loan application low interest, credit card, easy and fast approval

Tags: