By Prof. Sarex Dalida Dipol, Jr.
Participants included selected student members of the CPU Outreach Student Volunteers Society (CPU-OSVS), selected professors from DLMCH, reading teachers from adopted public elementary and high schools, and representatives from selected higher education institutions across the country.
On July 7, 2025, the 3-day seminar training in volunteerism and the Brigada Pagbasa Initiative commenced at the University Library.
The participants consisted of newly established student organizations, including the Central Philippine University-Outreach Students Volunteers Society, reading teachers from CPU-adopted elementary and high schools, selected professors from the Department of Languages, Mass Communications, and Humanities (DLMCH), and representatives from other higher education institutions in the region and across the country. This training seminar is in collaboration with other units at the University, including the Review and Continuing Education & Consultancy Center, the National Training Service Program, the University Libraries, the Department of Languages, Mass Communications and Humanities, and the Community Engagement and Service-Learning Center.
The first day of the program focused on volunteerism and introduced the “Introduction to Volunteer Management Systems” and the “Bawat Bata Bumabasa Program” (BBMP), discussed by Dir. Donald James D. Gawe, CESO III, and Mr. Kenneth C. Siruelo, Chief Volunteer Service Officer of the Department of Economy, Planning and Development- Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA).
Dir. Geomel P. Jetonzo, Brigada Pagbasa Program Director from the World Vision Development Program, led the 2nd day of the seminar training. Participants learned about the Brigada Pagbasa Framework and Scorecard, as well as Literacy Assessment Using the DAPAT Tool, the After-School Catch-Up Program, Strategies for Remedial Reading, and Designing Learner-Centered Literacy Initiatives.
On the third day, participants from selected higher education institutions in the country had talks and campus trips to various extension initiatives of the University, such as the Legal Clinics, the Center for Philippine Native Chicken, the KABALAKA Reproductive Health Center, and the Birthing Center, as well as the CPU Arukahik Tailoring Shop and Training Center.
Due to this three-day training, the Community Engagement and Service-Learning Center will establish a Center for Reading Development and Diagnostic Services in our adopted public elementary schools in which the reading teachers who attended the seminar training are the personnel and one of the intervention programs of the University to combat the educational crisis faced by the region and the country.
The Philippines is experiencing an educational crisis, specifically according to recent studies that out of ten (10) Filipino students, nine (9) of them cannot comprehend a simple text. Even with the performance in Science, Mathematics, and English subjects, the Philippines still falls behind. Due to this educational crisis, various government and non-government institutions and organizations orchestrated various intervention programs. The World Vision Development Foundation and the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development, in collaboration with the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA), have conducted seminars and training sessions on volunteerism and the Brigada Pagbasa Initiative to address this issue.