KZ Abesamis
Program Officer
December 28, 2009

Nine out of 10 Grade One students in Sual, Pangasinan, a province north of the nation’s capital, cannot read.

Based on the Dolch Test, an internationally recognized test composed of more than 220 words that children encounter in printed form even before they go to school, 93 percent are non-readers. The test measures both sight recognition and pronunciation.

To many parents, the test results were painful, but were not a surprise. They said they knew their children were not doing well in school, and admitted that they have not been doing much about it. But the good news is that Sual’s parents are now willing to shake things up and be smarter about their children’s education.

Synergeia Foundation’s approach in municipalities it is now working with shows that if educators, local government units, and communities want to make real progress toward meeting their goals in English and other subjects, it is critical that they actively engage parents as partners. And if parents want their kids to perform well, they cannot be curious bystanders. They must actively support and gently encourage their children to excel.

This is exactly what the Municipality of Sual did.

A Project Management Team (PMT) created to help children excel conducted a Parent-Leaders Workshop last August 26, 2009 where 80 Grade One parents from 19 public schools in Sual participated. Each grade one section was represented by three parent-leaders who in turn would cascade the training to fellow grade one parents through a mentoring program. It was a first for Sual and as one parent said, “napakasaya namin at nabigyan kami ng pagkakataong mapagbuti namin ang aming mga sarili para sa kapakanan ng aming mga anak.” (We are so happy that we were given a chance to improve ourselves for the sake of our children.)

Empowering parents is one of Synergeia’s thrusts in improving the quality of education. The Foundation believes that parents play a big part in students’ performance, not just inside the classroom, but most especially at home. In this Parent-Leaders Workshop, the facilitators were none other than members of the Federated Parent-Teachers Association, a barangay (village) captain, a barangay kagawad (village councilor) and a Municipal Councilor.

They discussed topics such as, “Edukasyon – Pinakamahalagang pamana ng magulang sa anak at ang kahalagahan ng edukasyon sa pag-aaral”, “Tungkulin ng magulang sa edukasyong at pagkilala at pakikipagtulungan sa paaralan”, “Pagpapaigting ng uganyang magulang at guro”, “Mga istratehiya sa pagpapabuti ng study habits ng ating anak” and “Pagpapaunlad ng mga kapuri-puring gawa at mababuting asal”, among others. Each facilitator had his own workshop in which they engaged parents through interactive and fun activities, forums, and games.

Each workshop had a set of questions which were answered by parents and written down on meta cards. The facilitators summarized the points and reported to everyone at the end of each workshop.

That afternoon, Synergeia program officer in Sual, KZ Abesamis, received a call from PMT Director Josefina Verzosa, who is the DepEd District Supervisor. She excitedly relayed that the PTA is now planning a mentoring program for next year.

“Hindi mapapantayan ang saya ng mga magulang at naming mga taga Sual dahil sa tulong na pinagkaloob ninyo. Salamat sa pag enable sa mga magulang, hindi ito mababaliwala,” she said. (The happiness of the parents and all of us from Sual is overflowing because of your help. Thank you for enabling the parents; your help will not fall on deaf ears.)