Are Your Grades 75 And Below? In This ‘Silid Aralan’, Kids With ‘Palakol’ Become Achievers In The End

What would you do if you have a failing grade in class? For one man, he believes it’s not the end of the world.

In fact, he sees it as an opportunity to show children how they can enjoy learning without being ridiculed even if their grades are 75 and below. The “line-of-seven” grades are called “palakol” because the number seven resembles an ax, or it could also mean that one would “get the ax” for not being able to do well in school.

Archie Mallari thought about these students when he founded Silid Aralan Inc. (SAI) in 2007, a non-profit organization (NGO). SAI helps low-performing and underprivileged public school learners in the Philippines, whose grades are 75 and below, to realize their full potential – not by teaching kids how to learn, but to show them how to love the process of learning.

“We are not a tutorial center, we don't teach them about math, science or English or other subjects in the school but we are actually building is the character of the child, the learner,” Mallari told The Philippine STAR in a phone interview on Tuesday, April 20.

“What we want to is to build their self-esteem,” Mallari stated.

Ermelyn Mateo, for instance, a third year college student at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines taking up Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, said her lowest grade before being part of SAI was 75 in science.

She was in Grade 3 when she joined SAI. After only one quarter, her grade improved to “line of eight” and “line of nine.”

“Like any other kid, she preferred playing outdoors than studying. At first, she was hesitant about joining (Silid Aralan), since she already spent the whole day at school and felt that she was being forced to do the same thing again in the afternoon. But because her facilitators had a unique teaching style that catered to fun-loving kids like herself, she started to enjoy learning and eventually brought up her grade,” SAI said.

Realization

But how did SAI come about? According to Mallari, it was through his time living in the Payatas dumpsite in Quezon City. He was in a personal immersion experience in the area in 2004 when he found out that some students who were already in high school still had a hard time to read.

“There I witnessed dun sa quality of education dun sa public school system wherein maraming mga bata na high school, pero hindi marunong magbasa,” Mallari said during the interview.

Particularly, it was one young man in high school who caught his attention. Mallari wondered why the young man reached high school when he could barely read words from the Bible.

Mallari realized he needed to do something that could help low-performing students in public schools who are not receiving enough attention or if they do, they get it for the wrong reasons.

“Imagine they are studying in a public school with more than 50 learners in a class, and kung performing sila, hindi na sila natatawag or kung natatawag sila, napapagalitan sila,” Mallari said on why SAI focuses on low-performing public school learners. 

Mallari explained they support children who are often scolded for failing in their subjects.

“‘Yung mga estudyanteng tinutulungan namin, ito ‘yung mga madalas pagalitan, ito ‘yung mga madalas bagsak, normal na sa kanila ‘yung bumabagsak. And imagine if that's every quarter, nangyayari sa kanila, and they are already high school, grade school. It's normal for them to fail and that failure becomes their reality,” Mallari stressed.

“But in Silid Aralan, we let them introduce themselves, you let them present their ideas and everyone will listen,” he said.

And according to him, a simple act of making a learner stand in front of the class already has a big impact on them. It makes them confident. It helps them think more highly of themselves.

“Sa kanila malaking impact ‘yung pinagkaka-intindihan sila, malaking impact ‘yung pinapatayo sila sa harap, no one is making fun of them and everyone is listening and talagang naniniwala sa sinasabi nila,” Mallari said.

“We don't believe that they are a failure, we don't believe in those numbers, we don't believe that they are not great. And we want to shift that perspective and we want to believe that they are great,” he added.

Patience

And since SAI has a different approach in teaching kids, facilitators – or “co-learners” as Mallari would like to call them –need to have a lot of patience for them to achieve their goal of making kids love learning.

“We also want to set their mindset na you're not there to teach. You're there to co-learn with them. You're there to listen,” Mallari told The STAR.

“Kaya our approach is not teaching but coaching. So parang ang goal for them is to be a champion, they are already a champion but they just have to believe in themselves. So even dun sa mga facilitators, they need to have a lot of patience,” he said. “We really have to engage them, you have to build a relationship for them to trust us.”

Fourteen years after its inception, SAI has come a long way as it has already helped 7,500 learners nationwide – and has reached the Philippines’ Southeast Asian neighbor of Indonesia. Silid Aralan in Indonesia, Mallari said, is currently helping 100 learners.

“There's an organization dun na nagustuhan ‘yung concept ng Silid Aralan... Maraming organization who are focusing on the underprivileged kids, ‘yung mga mahihirap,” he said. “Pero in terms of academics, maraming tumutulong sa mga mahihirap pero dapat mataas ‘yung grades. Sa atin lang ‘yung mahirap na at mababa ‘yung grades, dapat bumabagsak.” 

Originally, SAI has seven learning hubs nationwide for their co-learners to teach underprivileged kids. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NGO too had to rely on technology to keep the sessions going.

Mallari noted how the pandemic brought about more difficulties for children wanting to learn, so they had to step up their interventions as well.

“Nag-shift na kami to online, which is mas lalo naman sila kawawa kasi number one, mas marami ang learners namin ang walang internet connection. So we are teaching them, we are facilitating coaching them through phone. We are providing them with load,” he said. “Ganun ang nangyayari. Para kaming call center, and we give them activities.”

Despite the pandemic, Mallari is grateful that the kids still have an impressive attendance – up to 95 percent as of this month.

He pointed out that it was the relationship that they were able to build with students that motivates them to engage and continue their SAI stints. This is based on the feedbacks that they get from the parents.  

What the children also like the most is when the co-learners check on them. “Ang pinakagusto nila is may tumatawag sa kanila para mangumusta. Para sa kanila ngayong pandemic, (what’s more) more valuable is receiving care from someone, and that motivates them to push harder and to study because of that kind of relationship,” Mallari said.

‘75 Under 75 List’

And committed to its mission to champion learners with “palakol” grades, SAI has launched the “75 Under 75” search for 75 students with grades under 75.

The “75 Under 75 List” is a first of its kind as it will give a spotlight on the most academically-challenged public school students across the Philippines.

Selected students will join SAI’s Ground Zero Program –  a 13-year-old method that has proven to boost academic achievement by customizing learning styles to the passions and hobbies of learners.

“The project is not a mainstream search for impressive individuals; rather than looking for the cream of the crop, Silid Aralan’s Ground Zero Program will look for 75 students who are struggling in school,” Mallari said.

SAI’s Ground Zero program, as per the NGO’s official site, is the entry-level program of the organization. This original program, first implemented in 2008, is focused on academic improvement of primary-aged low-performing public-school students.

Under the search, the principal of an elementary public school may nominate a maximum of 100 students. These learners must be incoming Grade 2 to Grade 4 in the upcoming school year, and have a grade of 70 to 74 in one subject.

“It is the principal who will nominate the bottom students in their school,” Mallari said. “This has to be in coordination with the [the learners’] parents – meaning alam ng parents na nakalista ‘yung bata na ipapasa ng school.”

“Ibig sabihin hindi namin tanggapin ‘yung listahan ng principal kung hindi pirmado ng parents,” he added.

The 75 students will be chosen by a board of judges that includes Department of Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio, Smart Communications vice president and department head for community partnerships Darwin Flores, ABS-CBN broadcast journalist Julius Babao and singer Sitti Navarro.

Deadline for entries for the “75 Under 75 List” is on May 12. Those who want to enter must submit the accomplished nomination form, nominee’s personal data and nomination letter, and e-mail to [email protected].

Forms needed for the search may be downloaded from the “75 Under 75” website 75under75.com.