Palawan, Comval replicate Sarangani Big Brother

By BEVERLY C. PAOYON and SERAFIN N. RAMOS JR. ALABEL, Sarangani (April 16, 2012) – Sarangani Big Brother (SBB) “Reading is Fun!” enters its “Season 5” this week with two provinces replicating the program this year. SBB “Reading is Fun!” is a 15-day reading program run by the provincial government’s Quality Education for Sarangani Today (QUEST) program designed to assist the Department of Education (DepEd) to improve reading skills of “frustration readers” among incoming Grade 2 and 3 pupils. It is a whole day remedial reading program from April 17 to May 8 implemented in partnership with the DepEd, QUEST, Sangguniang Kabataan and the Alcantara Foundation. QUEST recently held two days of training for teachers who will conduct the reading classes. Each of the 309 teachers will handle an ideal class size of 35 pupils. During the training, Governor Migs Dominguez thanked the teachers for their “passion and commitment” to make SBB successful. “Let’s remember the first time we make them (children) read,” Dominguez told the teachers as he stressed the importance of continuously motivating children to learn to read. Compostela Valley Province also sent nine youth leaders and 12 teachers to join the training as they would replicate SBB starting this summer vacation which would be called “Summer Big Brother: Reading is Fun! Season 1”. After a series of benchmarking of local officials, DepEd officials and private sector in Sarangani which was arranged by Alcantara Foundation, Compostela Valley decided to replicate QUEST. Comval started with an Education Summit last January. Palawan was also set to launch this month its Palawan Big Brother, patterned after SBB. In early March, QUEST program manager Annalie Edday was instructed by Governor Dominguez to email the activities of QUEST to Palawan Governor Abraham Mitra because he was interested to replicate QUEST. A QUEST team led by Edday flew to Palawan on March 19-22 to present QUEST and help Palawan organize its education reform program. This summer, Palawan will have its PBB (Palawan Big Brother: Reading is Fun! Season 1). “PBB is the kickoff project of the Palawan education reform program,” Edday said. In Sarangani, Edday noted the improvement in the performance of the “frustration readers” after they have completed the reading program. “Frustration readers” are those who can identify words but have inadequate or no comprehension at all. “I am so happy that they feel the sense of belongingness as they enrolled in the next grade,” Edday said. She said every year different modules are used in the summer classes as additional inputs are being introduced. QUEST also designed a volunteer program to tap youth volunteers who will assist teachers in facilitating the activities from the modules. “Teaching young children to read is the most critical educational priority facing the province,” Edday said. She explained SBB “will help schools and children uplift their performance in reading.” “By teaching all children to read well by the end of the third grade, we will ensure that all students that advance to later grades are well prepared to achieve their full academic potential,” Edday added. Edday said SBB was successful in helping DepED eliminate the frustration and instructional readers among incoming Grade 2 and 3 pupils. “For years it has produced good result; for 4 years, this program has engaged 855 teacher volunteers, 2,166 youth volunteers and has made 17,983 pupils better readers,” Edday disclosed. “We are happy that we have numerous volunteers from General Santos City, seven scholars of American Field Studies and one German volunteer this year,” Edday reported about the SBB volunteers training. The program was first thought to make “reading as fun,” said Edday, “but since there are quite a number of frustration readers so we made SBB season 4 as a remedial reading program.” SBB was launched in 2008 in which Governor Dominguez said the first concern then was how to harness the spirit of volunteerism among the youth “to be able to make them contribute in the community.” “Masarap makatulong bumasa at buksan ang mga mata ng mga bata and teach them to dream big!,” Dominguez told the volunteers in Alabel during the volunteers training last year. For the past three years, SBB became a channel in unifying the school’s community and utilizing the collective efforts of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) of the province. The governor has pointed out that “success lies in education. It opens up boundaries we think impossible. Education from elementary to high school up to college will ensure better future.” In 2011, QUEST pre-test and post-test results showed a 55 percent increase of the pupils’ reading level from “frustration readers” (36%) to the right reading level (91%) and were ready to enter Grade 3. Every year, the reading skills of pupils were improving because of Sarangani Big Brother. SBB has become successful through volunteer youth and members of the Sangguniang Kabataan. “SBB taught me to become someone - to be a builder of this nation. I learned to embrace the beauty of imparting knowledge,” volunteer John Logos Guiang from Maitum town said. During its second season of Sarangani Big Brother “Reading is Fun!” one of the youth volunteers in Maasim Elementary School was Aimee Aragon, then a 15-year old incoming first year college student. “I am blessed to be given the opportunity to share my knowledge and experiences for the little children like I was, and I’m very happy to be an ‘Ate’ (big sister) for them,” Aragon said. The Panlalawigang Pederasyon ng Sangguniang Kabataan (PPSK) launched the month-long reading program in the summer of 2008 among elementary pupils while instilling the value of volunteerism among “mentors”. Right from SBB’s first season, Alcantara Foundation has already been one of the partners together with the SK, DepEd and the local government in the implementation of the program. The rest of the sponsors this year are Synergia Foundation, Sagittarius Mining Corp. and World Vision. (Beverly C. Paoyon and Serafin N. Ramos Jr./SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)