They may have carved a name in their respective professions and avocation individually– but as a group they are hardly known except by those they have partnered with to pursue their advocacies.
Their name: It Takes A Heart Association Inc.(ITH). Formed three years ago, the group had since been focusing on three main streams in their undertakings: education, health and livelihood.
Cognizant of the prevailing situation in the country’s public school system, ITH ventured into assisting pupils improve their reading capabilities especially the non-readers and the frustration-level readers.
According to the Department of Education’s matrix, non-readers are students who have not yet learned to read, while frustration-level readers are those who can read but struggle with comprehension and understanding, often requiring additional support to succeed in their studies. Government’s goal is to ensure literacy by Grade 3. To achieve this the DepEd undertook programs to improve reading proficiency such as Every Child a Reader Program (ECARP) and the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI), among others.
It is in this light that ITH initiated its reading assistance project by piloting in one of Tarlac City’s high population school such as the Sto Cristo Integrated School. Here, the teachers identify pupils needing assistance and a tutoring schedule is set. For the current school year, the once a week tutoring started in November and will end in March. As in the past, ITH tapped volunteer tutors from the Tarlac State University-College of Education. Tutoring follows a set of modules provided by the DepEd and the progress in each pupil is likewise measured by them. ITH provides token allowance for the volunteer tutors for their fare in going to and from the Sto Cristo Integrated School.
These little strides from ITH may seem insignificant given the enormity of the problem but it still is a step in the right direction.
On top of this tutoring project, ITH also reached out to an IP community in Sitio Poquis, Maasin, San Clemente and helped set up a mini library by providing books and other educational materials. Visits are made at intervals sometimes to provide medical/health services and other times to introduce livelihood opportunities.
ITH was not borne out of ITH. Its members are non-politicians brough together by a belief that non-traditional politics then represented by VP Leni Robredo could bring a fresh start for the Philippines. Despite the debacle in the last presidential race this small group remained unfazed and moved on to do what they can to make a difference.@ (jzmc)