Annie de Leon
Synergeia Foundation
September 25, 2009
Back in September 2008, Congressman Roman Romulo, a Synergeia ally and supporter, planted the seeds for the transformation of Pasig City when he articulated his dream for his hometown at an education governance meeting.
“My vision of Pasig is to become a haven for trade and investments, producer of quality work force, and a better quality of life for Pasigeńos. Children who gain access to quality education will have better opportunities. Quality basic education is the key to one’s success,” said the Congressman.
It didn’t take long for stakeholders to start the ball rolling. From that meeting, education stakeholders led by Cong. Roman formed themselves into a Project Management Team to steer the Pasig education program. Kawshik Sehwani, a PMT member and business partner, gave a commitment to provide resources for the program. He had one request: “I want to see results,” he said.
Pasig Division Office Superintendent Dr. Florentina Lizano and heads of the five pilot schools, namely Liberato Damian, San Joaquin, Oranbo, Manggahan, and Maybunga, promised to provide 100-percent support. Teachers, parent leaders, and barangay officials promised to invest time and effort for the sake of their children.
The PMT adopted the name PEDRO, which stands for Pasig Education Resource and Outreach. PEDRO will enable 4,074 Grades 1 and 2 pupils to read, write, and speak English well and develop skills in numeracy.
PEDRO is a package of interventions that include programs in teacher development, parenting, developing child friendly environment, providing workbooks and instructional materials, developing enrichment activities for pupils, establishing a system of incentives for teachers and benchmarking of performance.
To jumpstart the program, a five-day teachers training was conducted in April 2009. The training focused on enriching the content of English and Math and improving skills in delivery of instructions.
Parents of the Manggahan Elementary School conducted remdiation for non-readers using Synergeia modules and materials. True to his word, Mr. Sehwani gave television sets for the children’s enrichment activities.
With Synergeia’s technical guidance, the Pasig PMT is committed to making PEDRO a champion in education reform.
