JAN 2021 — If you can read this, thank your teacher. If it weren’t for an education, you wouldn’t be able to critically read, write, speak, effectively communicate, or understand how the world works. George Orwell once said, “If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.”

This article will cover one of the most important discussions in Filipino society: public education. The Philippines has an extremely complicated history that has shaped into what the world sees as the only Southeast Asian country with declining youth literacy rates. Being the world’s 12th most populous nation worldwide and with 5 in 10 Filipino families deprived of basic education, how has falling education standards come into fruition, given the fact that surveys show that 75.3% of Filipino students love learning? It just doesn’t make sense. As I’m writing this with extreme privilege from the comforts of a Tokyo cafe with a university education, who am I to analyze and critique Filipino lives who have been robbed of an unequal opportunity?

In 2009, Jaton Zulueta founded of AHA! Learning Center, an award winning free after school program for public school students in the Philippines. Their efforts have been featured by the Obama Foundation, Bloomberg, and dozens of Filipino publications. But that’s not what Jaton wants you to know about his learning center.

He has spent the past decade helping over 19,000 public school students. Since the pandemic hit, AHA! Learning Center has been providing educational solutions for distance learning. They have created 500+ text based learning materials, trained over 54,000 teachers, created over 100 educational programs. They recently created the Barangay Coding Program, which currently teaches high school students how to use Python.

So who exactly is eligible to participate in the learning center? Their target students are underprivileged families that live in Makati, Manila. We’re talking families who have parents that drive tricycles, own a small sari sari store, or earn 10,000-20,000 pesos (USD$200-400) a month. Claire Linatoc, a professional real estate trainer who recently made the jump to work full time for the NPO, said, “AHA! isn’t just a center that provides students with education, but it provides them with a home where they get to freely explore their interests in a constructive way—something their normal schools can’t provide“.

Shouldn’t the Philippine government be stepping in to help solve these educational issues?

AHA! currently is close partners with the Department of Education NCR branch, but that relationship alone isn’t enough to change Filipino education at scale. Because the Philippines is heavy on the service industry in today’s world, industries like tech still lag behind. Jaton says that, “That’s why we’re stepping in for the kids—public policies will not change by themselves. If you bring 100 people that work in Manila’s big tech firms and survey whether they think that 13 year old public school students can be taught python, probably over a third would say that it’s not possible.“

Since its founding in 2009, Jaton has seen many players come into the learning space of the Philippines. A lot of them weren’t able to survive beyond the two year mark. One of the biggest critiques of these “for profit” learning platforms is that they only provide inspirational pilot programs or proof of concepts, not sustainable long term solutions. Readiness is extremely important. Most of a student’s success is determinant on a supporting system of coaches and friends—not just a certificate from an e-learning course. Jaton’s team doesn’t intend to dismiss their efforts but has emphasized that they are fully focused on the low performing students with high potential a.k.a the masses. Without focusing on these majority groups, the middle class will remain minuscule and the Philippines may never reach its full potential as an equal, developed nation. Only 33% of public school students get into university and of that number, 12% attend. If you’re under the poverty line, that number goes all the way down to 2%. We need to change that.

Leona Lao, a Filipina Computer Science graduate from Ateneo de Manila University and currently working in data science, has agreed to teach consistently on the side. Having worked firsthand with the students, she explains that, “it’s not that the students are not capable of learning Python. These are some of the most hardworking kids. There was one time we asked them what their highlight of last week was and someone said it was when they finished their Barangay coding homework. This is not an ability problem—this is an opportunity problem. These kids don’t have many opportunities to actually experience someone telling them that they’re a good coder or they can actually code. They lack confidence because they haven’t seen people who have done it before and they lack a role model.”

Adapting to Pandemic Learning

The biggest challenge with Filipino public schools is educational equity problems. This has been accentuated by COVID-19, where Filipino children weren’t able to easily continue learning long term like other children in developed countries. This is where AHA! Learning Center has been a key role model to keep the students in school. Before the pandemic, while the education quality was still lacking, there was a defined learning outcome everyday, with availability of in-person tools to fuel the lessons. Since the pandemic, students struggled as they lost these in-person resources. AHA! created an ecosystem of support wherein even if you don’t have the gadgets and internet, you can still learn. As much as the Philippines wants great internet connection and much like a COVID-19 vaccine, there isn’t some magical overnight solution. So how does AHA! help provide learning easier during this extraordinary time?

Eskwelang Pamilya is a free text-based Facebook school that encourages family participation during COVID-19. In the Philippines, Facebook Free, the lighter version of the traditional Facebook app, is widely used. Using only text (no pictures and videos), AHA! builds their lessons through the app so that students can learn from the comfort of their own home with just phone data, paper, and a pen. Eskewelang Pamilya LIVE! is a twist on the original program by organizing live lessons for students using YouTube Live.

The Barangay Coding Program

In September 2020, Jaton needed to close his physical learning center after 11 years due to financial constraints. Once the pandemic is over, Jaton plans on permanently keeping elements of Eskwelang Pamilya that have been successful such as integrating family into the child’s learning process, introducing ways to include asynchronous learning, and incorporating self-studying into the curriculum. In the meantime, Jaton has been forced to shift his business to go completely online with the recent ramp up of AHA!’s Barangay Coding Program. Leona, a teacher of the program, notes that “the program is different in the sense that it mainly focuses on building confidence for students. They can pick up the coding lessons quite fast, but they often doubt themselves even if their answer is correct. We want to remove this doubt and let them freely be curious in the coding space. We are in the midst of putting together a more extensive programming prep course by exploring ways in which to develop problem-solving skills for kids without devices using pen and paper exercises.”

The Future of Filipino Education

The future of Filipino education is uncertain and alarming. Jaton’s message is extremely sobering: educators in the Philippines don’t necessarily need to focus on teaching the coding aspect, but should more importantly focus on figuring out how they can help invest into kids who may want to grow into coders. For people who want to get Filipino learning programs in place, just get started even if you don’t believe your skills are relevant. AHA! has seen many successes with educators who have never coded before and vice versa. The Barangay Coding Program is the first Filipino coding program that focuses strictly on underprivileged youth. Do you want to live in a world where all innovation stems from people of privilege? It seems as though we’re designing technology without crucial perspective from 36% of the world’s population a.k.a those who live below the poverty line. They too bring something to the table and it’s up to us to give them that chance. Jaton had a final piece of advice for readers:

It’s important to understand how bad the education situation is in the Philippines. It’s not about no child left behind, we’re one of the worst in the world. The country that you’re from may get even worse. All hands on deck—I wish people would stop making platforms and just start talking to people. Instead of thinking of everything having a six point plan, our volunteers just rolled up their sleeves and started helping out. You can help from where ever you are as long as there is an internet connection. There are so many forgotten indigenous populations around the Philippines who were smart enough to go to university with scholarships but don’t accept them because they don’t believe they’re good enough. We want to get our coding program off the ground so these people can have a chance too. Imagine the impact if people from the tech industry, like you and me, mentor them and show them how talented they really are. It makes it easier for them to believe it’s possible if someone that’s already doing it tells them it can be done.

For those who wish to support AHA! Learning Center by offering donations or sharing their talents and skills, visit their website https://www.ahalearningcenter.com or their Facebook page.

Entrepreneur Stats

NAME Jaton Zulueta

COMPANY AHA! Learning Center

LOCATION Makati, Metro Manila

EDUCATION Ateneo de Manila University