The Makati City government has allocated P3.28 million for the implementation of Teach for the Philippines (TFP) Program in three selected public elementary schools in the city for two years.
On Monday, Mayor Abigail Binay signed an agreement with officials of the Department of Education, Makati City Schools Division (DepEd Makati) and TFP, Inc., to begin with the program for two consecutive school years – 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022.
“The City of Makati is proud to be a part of this meaningful collaboration with the prime movers of quality public education in the country. As we shift to remote learning in the new normal, multi-stakeholder collaboration is crucial to addressing the many impediments to our envisioned quality education for all,” said Binay.
Under the agreement, TFP has recruited six college graduates to serve as Fellows for two school years in partner schools selected by the city government and DepEd Makati. The city will provide for the allowance and cost of training of the teacher fellows for the two school years including the summer period between them.
For its part, TFP will provide all fellows with access to various resources including sample lesson plans, assessments, grade tracking systems and instructional materials. DepEd Makati through the school principals will directly supervise the fellows and collaborate with TFP to support them in creating an interactive classroom where critical and analytical thinking skills can be developed.
Aside from the designation of teacher fellows in the city’s public schools, the program also aims to implement a training program for teachers and non-education majors to become successful and transformational teachers. It also has a research and development component for the formulation of science-based policies on education in the future.
TFP co-founder and chair Elizabeth Zobel de Ayala said she was glad that the partnership has finally happened.
“We are honored to be working with the City of Makati because the leadership that you provide is extraordinary, and not just in COVID times but also in the way you supported the educational system of Makati,” she said.
She cited the city’s various initiatives that have inspired TFP to pursue the partnership, including the distribution of learner’s package to students, provision of free internet load, and the Dyipni Maki mobile learning hub project.
The other participants in the virtual signing ceremony conducted via Zoom were Superintendent Carleen Sedilla of the Department of Education Schools Division of Makati (DepEd Makati) and TFP Chief Executive Officer Clarissa Isabelle Delgado. TFP chair Zobel de Ayala also signed as witness to the agreement, together with Rita Riddle, city Education Affairs Director, and Margarita Delgado, Vice Chair of TFP.
There will be two teacher fellows assigned to each of the three public elementary schools selected by the city for the program, as follows: La Paz Elementary School, Mark Mailom and Don Neri; Maximo Estrella Elementary School, Kate Gaetos and Meo Nacar; and Nemesio I. Yabut Elementary School, Aya Datuin and Fran de Guzman.
Mailom has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Santo Tomas while Neri is a graduate of the University of the Philippines (UP), Los Baños with a Bachelor of Science in Natural Science major in Entomology.
Gaetos is a B.S. Education major in Social Studies graduate of UP Diliman while Nacar has a bachelor’s degree in General Education obtained from Oriental Mindoro State University.
Datuin is a graduate of the University of Caloocan with a bachelor’s degree in Education major in Science while de Guzman has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree major in Information Design from the Ateneo de Manila.
Each teacher fellow will teach for a maximum of six hours a day under the supervision of the school principal.
A non-stock, non-profit organization, Teach For the Philippines seeks to enhance the social well-being of the people by bridging the education gap in the Philippines and advocating functional literacy and progressive teacher and administrator training.
