Most improved students of Caltex Mentor Program from 16 schools in Mandaluyong City celebrate their accomplishment with executives from the Department of Education, Mandaluyong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Chevron Philippines, Inc.

Reading can take a child to far, far away places without having to travel, but sadly, many students at risk (STaRs) have yet to discover things simply because they cannot read.

Chevron Philippines Inc., (CPI), was one of the companies alarmed by the deplorable state of reading among schoolchildren.

“This problem was traced as a result of the extreme teacher-student ratio in public elementary school classrooms coupled by impoverished parents who often have no time or patience to give their children the attention they need to excel in school,” says CPI policy, government, and public affairs coordinator Cherry Ramos.

Thus in 2004, CPI launched the Caltex Mentor Program (CMP) to help the Department of Education address concern over the alarming increase in the number of non-readers.

An advocacy program that enables volunteer employees, customers and various business partners to give personal resources, CMP concentrates on pupils in Grades 2 and 3, which are considered the most vulnerable school levels of StaRs.

Since its initial staging at J. Zamora Elementary School in Pandacan, Manila, CMP has already spread throughout Metro Manila, Pangasinan, Batangas, Iloilo, Cebu and recently in Naga. The target is to maintain an 80 percent average success ratio in all target communities, Ramos says.

SUCCESS!

CMP’s biggest milestone so far is its achievement in Mandaluyong City where 576 out of 671 STaRs in 16 public schools were taught how to read.

“It took five years, more than 10,000 man hours and the synergy of at least 611 mentors and many volunteers from Chevron, the Mandaluyong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and the Mandaluyong Business Foundation as well as other volunteer groups from the city to complete the first round of its CMP program,” Ramos reveals.

The CMP Mandaluyong project ran from October 2004 to December 2009. participating schools are include Andres Bonifacio Integrated School, Highway Hills Elementary School, Eulogio Rodriguez Elementary School, Dona Pilar Gonzaga Elementary School, Plainview Elementary School, Pedro P. Cruz Elementary School, Hulo Elementary School, Nueve de Febrero Elementary School, Pleasant Hills Elementary School, Mandaluyong Elementary School, Barangka Ilaya Elementary School, Amado T. Reyes Elementary School, Isaac Lopez Elementary School, Renato Lopez Elementary School, Felimon P. Javier Elementary School, and Dona Basilisa Yangco Elementary School.

Pleasant Hills Elementary School, for instance, had a 100 percent success rate as 25 students who took the post test all passed. Hulo Elementary School, on the other hand, is the only school that was not able to get a passing rate because only 40 students or 66 percent out of 61 students passed the post test.

The project faced several speed bumps along the way, admits Ramos.

“In Highway Hills Elementary School for example, the organizers had to deal with diversity as the school implored volunteers not only to teach STaRs from the first to third grade but also up to Grade 6.”

Last year too, CMP participants from Barangka and Amado T. Reyes elementary schools barely managed to finish their CMP graduation rites before Typhoon Ondoy unleashed its fury and converted the school into an evacuation center.

“But overall, we are very happy that the total average success rate is 86 percent in all these schools,” Ramos says.

SIMPLE STORYTELLING DOES NOT WORK

The CMP was conducted for four consecutive Saturdays. Each session was composed of a three-hour, one-on-one mentoring where mentors taught students to read.

“CMP is not a ‘magic system’ that will make your children read after four Saturdays. Rather, it accelerates the students’ learning abilities through individual instructions,” Ramos explains.

At the end of the month-long mentoring, teachers will conduct post tests to determine if a child has improved in reading.

Ramos says that CMP veers away from the usual storytelling because it just does not work that way.

“You really have to instill in them the value of reading, make them interested to learn new things, and empower them so they will develop good reading habits while growing up,” she says.

Still according to her, the most common problem that CMP addresses is comprehension.

“Reading without comprehension is what makes a non-reader kasi, pwedeng a child can read but he is merely reciting the words without understanding them,” she says. Aside from that, the short attention span also plays a big factor.

There is actually no secret technique why CMP is effective in teaching children to read, Ramos says.

“We use the same techniques that teachers use. There is also the other aspect of teaching them values and showing them that we care so they won’t feel the same neglect that they feel in their homes or school is the ultimate key,” she says.

For Gregoria Ignacio, principal of Pedro P. Cruz Elementary School, the secret to the success of the program lies in the saying that “It takes a village to teach a child.”

“Mentors and parents alike are taught by the teachers early in the program on the proper techniques of tutoring a non-reader so the child is mentored consistently in or out of school,” she says.

This way, Mrs. Ignacio adds, it is also ensured that after the Saturday mentoring, parents can continue the process at home, and teachers can follow up during schooldays.

“What’s pleasantly surprising is how the program helped them develop self-confidence, which resulted in them being more participative during class discussions,” she adds.

THE ‘TEACHER’ IN US

To ensure that the program would adhere to the proper way of teaching children, CPI collaborated with teachers to devise a mentor kit. This was composed of a lesson plan, a diary where parents and teachers could monitor the progress of the child, and the reading tools and other materials such as books and other visual aids.

Volunteers underwent an orientation to understand the profile of a non-reader and what makes a non-reader, the issues concerning them, and how to properly address these problems.

For CMP volunteer Jennifer Malaki, the CMP is a great opportunity to help teachers who are having a hard time handling classes with huge teacher-student ratio. “Teachers cannot do this alone, as much as they would want to do one-on-one mentoring, it’s not possible because of the high number of students they have in one class. We want to be a part of the solution,” she says.

Given the breadth of the non-readership problem in the Philippines, Ramos says that CMP is something that they want to cascade to other groups who want to replicate the program in their respective communities. “For as long as there are people who are willing to help, the spirit of CMP lives on,” she ends.