Belmontes sponsor ‘Tutoring Club’ for QC students

MANILA, Philippines - The Belmonte family has sponsored the establishment of a skills-based tutoring service center for students enrolled at the Betty Go-Belmonte Elementary School in Quezon City.

“We’re sponsoring Tutoring Club’s initiative into the public schools because they have a proven track record in the private sector with their student base,” said Philstar Global Corp. president Kevin Belmonte during the launch yesterday.

“It’s world class, it’s cutting edge and we want to bring that to the public school system not just here in Quezon City but ultimately, in Metro Manila and nationwide,” he added.

Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte and several councilors, who also expressed support for the program, attended the event.

“My family is very grateful to be part of this because this school is named after our mother, Betty Go-Belmonte, who also advocated for education,” the vice mayor said.

“We thought that if we were to do a project that should help the students of our city, it should be in the school named after our mother,” she added.

Betty Go-Belmonte is the founding chairman of The Philippine Star.

The vice mayor said their father, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., expressed interest in sponsoring the Tutoring Club established two years ago at the Kamuning Elementary School.

“The Belmonte family wants to support worthwhile ventures that will help our people move up,” said Kevin. “We hope to rally more of the private sector to come in so that this program in the public schools can be institutionalized.”

Public service

Tutoring Club Philippines is the local franchise of a corporation of the same name based in the United States. It provides a skills-based tutoring service for elementary students in mathematics, reading and writing.

Tutoring Club chief operating officer Marides Lacson said the company in 2012 decided to partner with the Department of Education, through its adopt-a-school program, for the establishment of a center in a public school as part of their corporate social responsibility.

In the past two years, the said center – established at the Kamuning Elementary School – has catered to over 700 students.

Lacson said students enrolled in their Amazing Math programs achieved an average of 73 percent in the National Achievement Test, almost double the average score of students not enrolled in the programs.

The students are given tutoring twice a week, one hour each session, for the entire school year. Lacson stressed that their program will provide students with the skills that could help them understand the lessons.

“The idea here is to nurture your foundation… We are not promising to teach you everything, but the basic foundations so that you will be able to keep up with what the teacher is teaching you,” she said.

She said support from the local government could help them look for corporate partners or people who can help support the establishment of more centers in other schools.

Helen Grace Go, assistant division of schools superintendent, expressed gratitude to Tutoring Club and the Belmonte family for the support.

“Hopefully, other people will also help us in providing quality education for our children,” she said. â€œIt takes a whole village to educate a child. We cannot do it alone.”