Taking care of learners in Bohol Province

THE school year is back officially in full swing and nothing is stopping the Department of Education Bohol Province from taking care of their learners.

“With the safety and protection of the students and teachers in mind, we re-directed our efforts to conduct our activities online and decided to initiate activities that are more suited these times,” shared Marina Bernasor, PDO – Youth Focal Coordinator, DepEd Bohol Province.

Days leading towards the opening of the school year meant wearing face shields, face masks, and keeping a safe social distance from officemates and other colleagues. Their schools in the province worked hard in making sure that everyone would be ready to welcome back learners.

Among the strategies rolled out by DepEd Bohol Province included the “Saying YES to YES-O at Home!” learning session for teacher-advisers of the Youth for Environment in Schools Organizations (YES-O). Partners from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Agricultural Training Institute – Central Visayas shared their expertise during this session.

“We crafted contextualized programs in response to the COVID crisis and discussed [strategies] for implementation,” shared Bernasor.

As an output from the session, some of the programs crafted included TANUM (Tanum Amomahon Naglaum Ugma Molambo), a backyard gardening activity for all learners in their homes, and Digi-Agri Serye, a series of short video clips on the basics of urban gardening.

“[TANUM] can support the food needs of the family without the risk of getting infected with COVID-19 when going to the market,” said Bernasor. These distance learning initiatives would pave the way for learners and their families to produce their own food in their backyards.

Other initiatives to look forward to this school year include the Tree Tag, encouraging learners to plant native trees at home, and the JuanEffect, challenging learners to address the plastic problem in their homes.

DepEd Bohol Province invested a lot of time and effort in training their teachers and learners in preparation for the opening of the school year. Students participated in the the RAFI Center for Leaders’ YOUth in Action Virtual Learning Series and teachers actively took part in the Teacher-Adviser Training program.

“[One] challenge that we have encountered is having minimal know-how on how to conduct things online. The availability of stable internet connection and laptops [are also a challenge],” explained Bernasor.

Quick to address these challenges, DepEd Province ensured that their teachers participated on various webinars to equip them with the necessary skills to conduct their online learning activities. They were also able to find active partners from whom they have found support in helping roll out their different initiatives.

DepEd Bohol Province has been an active partner of the RAFI Center for Leaders (CFL). Their experience with RAFI CFL has helped them thrive through these challenging times.

“Our KAC experienced helped us much specially in overcoming our dragons. Fear is number one. At first, we are very hesitant to conduct those activities above mentioned because we are afraid that we might be infected of this unseen enemy. Lastly, we learned to be compassionate with our colleagues to have a strong bond of communication then will able to collaborate with each other,” said Bernasor. She along with Angelette Romolador and Aian B. Dolauta have been youth focal coordinators with whom CFL has been closely coordinating with.

The RAFI Center for Leaders honors our teachers in celebration of National Teachers’ Month and the start of the new school year. We recognize the dedication they put into their work in taking care of and teaching our young learners.

The RAFI Center for Leaders provides learning and development programs that equip leaders and enable communities through world-class, safe, powerful learning experiences. The RAFI CFL headquarters are located in the scenic mountains of Balamban, Cebu at the Kool Adventure Camp, the country’s first and fully-dedicated adventure education facility.