BY HAZEL P. VILLA
ILOILO City – The pandemic has impacted not only students and their families but also teachers who struggle to keep their enthusiasm and passion for teaching alive.
Understanding this, the only Center for Teaching Excellence in Western Visayas launched on Nov. 20, 2021 a Virtual Training Series with the topic “Motivation: A Driving Force of an Extraordinary Teacher.”
The event which ran from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. with about 90 teacher-participants from the Department of Education and other colleges and universities was launched by the West Visayas State University (WVSU) and Project FORTH (Formation of Teachers in Challenged Areas), a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
A powerhouse set of speakers kicked off the training series which are also scheduled from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 27, Dec. 4, Dec. 11, Dec. 18, 2021 and ends on Jan. 8, 2022 — all on topics that seek to assist professional and pre-service teachers with the wherewithal to improve both their personal, social, and professional lives through do-able and fun activities atypical of most online seminars.
The speakers were Randy Halasan, commissioner of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor; Dr. Jesus Insilada, Principal II of Malitbog NHS and focal person for Indigenous People’s Education (IPED); and Mrs. Concepcion Tababa, an advocate of of indigenous people and the Alternative Learning System.
Chosen for their inspiring stories as teachers in challenged areas, the first speaker, Commissioner Halasan is a Ramon Magsaysay 2014 awardee recognized for his efforts in educating and nurturing his students belonging to the indigenous Matigsalug tribe living in the hinterlands of Davao City, a very remote area.
Principal Insilada, the second speaker, is a member of the Panay Bukidnon indigenous people and an awardee of the Palanca Foundation and the National Commission on Culture and the Arts for his exemplary literary works and is also the 2014 Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Teacher and Princess Maha Chakri 2017 Outstanding Educator in Southeast Asia. In 2018, he was declared as one of the Ten Finalists for the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize.
The third speaker, Mrs. Tababa is the Most Outstanding District ALS Coordinator of the country in 2008, an honoree of the Bato Balani Foundation “The Many Faces of the Teacher 2011”, and recipient of the 2014 Civil Service Commission Pag-Asa Award for her innovations such as the mobile library called BAOL or Barangay Aid on Literacy Program.
Giving their messages were Atty. Lily Freida Milla, director of the Office of International Affair of the Commission on Higher Education; Dr. Julia Gonzales, project designer of Project FORTH, and Dr. Emma Melgarejo, academic coordinator of Project FORTH.
Project FORTH seeks to empower teachers who are working in locations and contexts that are out of the ordinary. A major achievement of the project is the approval of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for the offering of the degree Master of Teaching in Challenged Areas (MAEd TCA) in selected universities – WVSU College of Education Graduate School being one of them./PN
