61 Kinder und Jugendliche in der Schulausbildung

Quartalsbericht 1/2007 über die Aktivitäten
im Rahmen des step-by-step-Stipendienprogramms
in Cebu-City, Philippinen

This report covers the first quarter of the year 2007. step-by-step in Germany assists the formal education of a total of 61 scholars from Cordova, specifically from the village of Camolinas and from the village of Kamagayan in Cebu City. Out of the total number of 61 scholars, 49 come from Cordova and 12 from Kamagayan. The scholars or sponsored children are all enrolled in public schools and are in various grade or year levels, ranging from kindergarten, elementary, and high school. This school year 2006-2007, most of the classes in the public school system in the Philippines ended in March 30.

Project Administration

In December of 2006, we informed the Scholarship Officer hired for the project that his contract will not be renewed for another year due to his unsatisfactory job performance (as confirmed by the parents) and that his employment will end on January 15, 2007 to give enough time for turn over of project documents. Hiring for his replacement was done on the 2nd week of January. Interviewing was done during the 3rd week of January. Out of 3 applicants, JPIC hired Mr. Ramonito del Campo, a Philosophy graduate with some units in Education. He was formerly studying to be a priest and a volunteer in our Street Children Project for more than a year.

An orientation activity was done for the newly hired staff of JPIC wherein we discussed our vision, mission, goals and programs including office and financial policies and procedures. Ramonito together with other newly hired staff were brought to the different project sites and were introduced formally to their communities of assignment as well as to the other staff of JPIC.

Project Activities

(1) Conduct of Tutorials

The tutorials resumed on the 3rd week of February since Ramonito was only hired on the first week. The second week was devoted to his orientation to JPIC and to the community.

Ramonito had started with getting to know the children personally by talking to them and doing some story telling and group games with them. During tutorials he asks them what their lessons are in school and what are their difficulties. From there, he then gives them input on whatever areas of the lesson that they had problems with. Ramonito did not have any difficulty establishing rapport with the children. He, however, expressed that he is still trying to really think of topics to discuss and learning activities that he can do with them aside from the tutorial sessions. He will be developing a module for this after he shall have made an assessment of what the children's needs and interests are.

Having seen also the need for chairs and tables to make children more comfortable during tutorial sessions, he also recommended that we purchase those. He also proposed for the repair of the storage room in the meeting area to be used not only as storage for the chairs and tables but also as study room during tutorials for children who needed to study more especially during periodic examination time so that they can concentrate better.

The schedule set for the tutorials in Cordova is every Monday-Wednesday-Friday from 3:00-5:00 p.m. for Kindergarten level and Tuesday-Thursday from 4:00-6:00 p.m. for Elementary and High School levels. Saturday is GROUP ACTIVITY day for all children whether sponsored or not, where they play group games and story telling sessions with inputs on values development. Sunday is the tutorial day in Kamagayan from 10:00-12:00 a.m. as there are only 12 sponsored children there.

Tutorial sessions in Cordova...

... with Ramonito as scholarship officer.

Children used tables made of cement...

... before tables and chairs... 

... were purchased.

In Kamagayan, children were given basic computer lessons because all of them expressed a high level of interest to learn it. They were taught the parts of the computer and its usage. They were also given an exercise in typing and/or encoding. Ramonito brought the children to the computer center in one of the partner institutions of JPIC for their computer lessons. There were three Sundays devoted to this.

(2) Conduct of Parents' Meeting

The Program Coordinator set a meeting with the parents to formally introduce Ramonito to them and to officially inform them of Chester’s resignation. This also became an opportunity to talk to them about their concerns on the project. The parents asked when they can get their requests for funds for their children’s school expenses because there were 3 children whose request documents have been misplaced by Chester. They were told that it takes about one week for the processing and Ramonito will personally release the funds together with the Edcom (Education Committee) chairperson on the first week of March. As of reporting time, this is done already.

(3) Repair of Storage Room and Purchase of Chairs and Tables

We asked the approval of the president of the housing beneficiaries association in Cordova if we can use the storage room as study room as well as storage for the tables and chairs. He gave approval and we immediately made some repairs on it including installation of a door knob with lock. After the renovation, we had also purchased the tables and chairs. There were 2 tables bought and 30 chairs (10 small ones and 20 regular sized chairs). These are all made of plastic. We also purchased small chairs for children who are in the kindergarden level.

Project concerns and action taken

Concern: The need for storage area for the chairs and tables to be purchased for the tutorials.
Action Taken: We asked the approval of the President of the housing beneficiaries in Cordova to use the storage area in the meeting area in Cordova. He gave approval and it is now being used as such.

Concern: The children need for study room where they can concentrate in studying especially in preparation for their periodic examinations.
Action Taken: The storage area is now being used also as study room for the children.

Concern: Ramonito needs more input on how to teach children and what topics he can introduce to them.
Action Taken: We scouted for subjects offered on early childhood education at the University of San Carlos and at St. Theresa’s College. He will be enrolling this April in time for summer class. This is fortunate indeed as summer class here only takes about 6 weeks to finish. We plan to enroll him in 1 or 2 subjects only and more specifically during mornings.

Planned Activities for Next Quarter

The following are the planned activities for the next quarter, April-June 2007:
1. Annual assessment of the scholar’s and screening of new entrants to the program in May.
2. Major activity on the first week of June will be purchasing of school supplies, uniform, shoes and school bags for the school opening.
3. Distribution of the school supplies and others before the school opening or at least a week after school opens.
4. Conduct of orientation to the parents regarding the policies of the Scholarship Program.
5. Visit the schools where children are studying and hold re-orientation sessions to the school principal as well as teachers regarding the Scholarship Program of JPIC.
6. Field Trip to historical and tourism sites.

Prepared by: Mimi M. Egot, Education Program Coordinator in consultation with Ramonito del Campo, Scholarship Officer.