Rotary ‘education in motion’

This project demonstrates that education does not have to stop with students dropping out of school or not possessing enough knowledge even if they’ve received their high school diploma. It involves bringing a 30 to 40 foot van to six schools and allowing selected students to learn more with the use of computers and other high-tech tools.

The Education in Motion Project is this year’s flagship project of (2014-2015) Rotary Club Manila 101 in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Sarasota, Florida and the Manila City Schools Division, headed by Assistant Superintendent Nitz Ferida.

The mobile classroom is equipped with computers and especially-trained teachers to help students better understand lessons in basic subjects as English and Mathematics, and give them skills training so that they will have better employment opportunities. The project will use the i-Ready Diagnostic/Assessment and STARS (Strategies to Achieve Reading Success) program, which is recognized as the 2014 Best Upgraded Product by the Awards of Excellence by Tech and Learning in the United States.

The three-year program will start this month, with 150 out of 2,000 students and out-of-school youth receiving their training in six high schools in the National Capital Region. These are Araullo High School, Corazon S. Aquino High School in Baseco, Manila; Jose Abad Santos High School, Manuel A. Roxas High School, Mariano Marcos Memorial High School, and Esteban E. Torres High School.

The students’ performance will be monitored through an online educational tool called i-Ready.

Teresa (Tes) Tumangan says the flagship project fits in with RC Manila 101’s theme “Light Up Rotary.”

Tes says Rotary is an international organization of business persons and professionals around the world. She organized Rotary Manila 101 in 2006 composed of wives of Presidents 101 during the year her husband Ed Tumangan, former secretary of the Philippine Senate, was the district governor. “We have many projects, that’s why we won the Award for Most Outstanding Club in the District every year, and this year, the Most Outstanding Club of the District Overall through the leadership of the president, Dr. Joyce Reyes, former Philippine Dental Association president.“

Liza Elorde, daughter of the late boxing champ Flash Elorde, is a past president and has been handling sports development activities for the youth. Another first for Rotary Manila 101 is having the famous Manny Pacquiao as president fro two years, bringing the club to international Rotary attention.

During the last five years, the Rotary Foundation Grant’s main project was the eLearning for Day Care children. Some 27,000 children ages 2 to 6 were taught nursery software hands-on.

Tess is a professor of pharmacy at the University of Sto. Tomas. In 1987 she was appointed by President Corazon Aquino as chair of the Board of Pharmacy, Professional Regulation Commission, serving until 1994.

 Rotary Manila 101 vice-president Majella Tumangan Villaroman explained the education in motion project to members of the Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel. The MOA was signed by Tes Tumangan as the project proponent, and Superintendent Dr. Corazon Rubio representing the Department of Education. Present at the presentation were Rotary Manila 101 president Joyce Reyes, and assistant superintendent Juanita Ferido of the Manila City Schools Division, District Gov. Karen Tamayo, District Rotary Foundation chair Francisco Atayde, District Global Grant chair George Ng, and Ed Tumangan.

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The big event on June 27 was the 100th birthday of the eminent Helena Z. Benitez, a.k.a. HZB. It seems the whole world greeted her: women’s rights advocates, environmentalists, legislators, clerics, educators, celebrities – in short, people whose lives she had touched. So many articles have been written about her. My column of August 22, 2002, had been on her turning 88 years old. Let me quote portions of it, to show my unending appreciation for her being a “compleat woman,” which was the title of my column.

It began with my saying that in the ancient Greek science of numerology, the philosopher-mathematician Pythagoras said the number 88 represented healing, leadership and revolution on the spiritual level. Dr. Dolores B. Lasan, chancellor and vice president for academic affairs of Philippine Women’s University, described Helena Benitez as though born “to heal, lead and revolutionize on a spiritual level flawed ideals, clouded oaths, and broken yet blessed human hearts, hopes and aspirations.” The numerous awards conferred on her, at age 88, were not enough, she was “still looking for things to do, for stars to reach.” Her search for stars led to the former senator’s receiving of the Papal Award Pro ecclesia et Pontifice, the Sikatuna Award Rank of Datu, of the Philippine Senate’s adopting two years ago of Senate Resolution 786, sponsored by Sen. Loren Legarda, to honor Dr. Benitez “for her service to the Filipino people and to acknowledge her contributions to the nation.”

Dr. Benitez was a member of the Philippine Senate from 1968 to 1972. She was the first Filipina to have chaired the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the first Filipina member of the Board of the International Association of Universities. She established the Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company in 1957, served as chair of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, and was multi-term president of the Civic Assembly of Women of the Philippines.

According to Legarda, Dr. Benitez “is a trailblazer and a positive force towards nation building.” She is famous for initiating the first comprehensive report on the state of the Philippine Environment in 1971 and authorizing several pieces of legislation that allowed environmental issues to come to the forefront of national concern.

She authored the laws on municipal forests and watersheds, Philippine Eagle Protection, Tamaraw sanctuaries, and Forestry Profession.

She headed the first Philippine delegation to the UN Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, became the first Filipino and first woman president of the Governing Council of the UN Environment Programme, and became the special adviser to Secretary General Maurice F. Strong in the UN Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development (UNCED), more popularly known as the Rio Summit, in 1992.

As the first Filipina chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, she paved the way for the declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women which was adopted by the General Assembly in 1967, from which the working draft of the Convention on the Elimination on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was based.

Former Ambassador to Belgium Rosario Manalo described Dr. Benitez as “a woman for all seasons. She is intellect, tenacity, kindness and beauty put together. She has the innate ability to relate to all kinds of people from any social class, from paupers to princes, without being the least affected with pretension. In all her encounters, her uniqueness, her quick and nimble mind shines through.”

At age 100, she is still president of Philippine Women’s University. She is tall and elegant, wearing most of the time, Filipiniana attire.

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