Teresa lives in a small house with a dirt floor. On one side of the room is a small cot, on the other is a makeshift kitchen with piles of charcoal and a cooker. Her husband works in a small canteen in town; she spends her days caring for their three daughters and baby son.
Life is constantly difficult, but Teresa’s smile tells a different story. She beams when she talks about her children, especially recalling their experience with ICM’s Family Academy.
“Our pastor told me to bring them to a tutoring session, so I did,” Teresa shares.
She and her eldest daughter attended the first meeting and enjoyed it so much they brought her other girls along too. They received a set of flashcards and Teresa, although herself formally uneducated, learned how to teach her girls phonics and math. Through FA all three of the girls were prepared academically and emotionally for school.
Teresa is thrilled with this next step in their education, “They learn their ABCs, colors, and numbers. And best of all, they learn how to mingle with other children their age. I don’t think it would have been possible with the training of Family Academy.”
In a report by the World Bank, over 80% of Filipino students fall below the minimum proficiency levels in school. Based on government research, only 10% of students meet the minimum reading standards and 17% the minimum mathematical standards – placing the country behind others in Asia.
ICM’s Family Academy helps pre-school children become school-ready. The program empowers parents to be their children’s first teachers despite their lack of formal education. Mothers are given tutorial and visual aids in math and phonics to help their children get a head start for school and increase their likelihood of school success.
Pre-schoolers who participate in the early childhood education program have shown significant increase in their math and phonics abilities. Children who attend the Family Academy are 72% more proficient in math, and 75% more proficient in phonics compared to other children.
Seeing this improvement, parents realize that despite their situation, their children can graduate from college. Teresa’s eldest daughter dreams of becoming a doctor, the two younger ones want to be a teacher.
Today, Teresa has three things she asks God for her children, “First, that they would have good health. Second, that they would finish school. And third, that they would grow up to be God-fearing people.”
Teresa’s smile is full of hope. Now their journey into education has begun, who knows what might be possible.
