This year, we celebrated our founding anniversary together with the opening of classes for School Year 2021 – 2022.

Just like last year, our schools were empty again: no students on site, and no teachers as well? Yes. Our teachers are not in their classrooms and offices, but out on the field to visit their students and meet their parents in their communities.

With still no plans from the government for a transition back to safe face-to-face classes, CCT-VOHCS continues to provide alternative interventions for tribal students to have access to quality education despite the limitations of learning modalities, and resources of their families. Last school year, our teachers provided reading tutorials and assistance to their students by meeting them regularly in their communities. With both the help from their parents and teachers, the students adjusted to the modular distance learning modality and finished the school year completing their modules. While we believe that this is not ideal, we are able to innovate, and we strengthened ties with the community at the same time. 

In our 10th year, 11 of our students in Malungon, Sarangani will begin their Senior High School. Since our school’s resources cannot meet the requirements for Senior Highschool, we asked our students to enroll in the public school since all schools offer modular distance modalities and would only require them to get their modules once a week. Since they live far, our teachers who travel to and from the community would assist them in getting and submitting their modules. We hope to continue to disciple and journey with them until they finish their education. Hopefully, we can help them expand their learning beyond their modules as well by raising funds for laptops and tablets so they too can access online resources and audio-visual reference materials. We hope to provide these for our younger students too. We pray that you can help our tribal students have an opportunity to expand their learning and develop digital literacy as well. 

First day done, 200+ days to go! We look forward to this new year of learning with the students and their communities. I am truly honored to be part of this ministry where we witness our students not only grow in wisdom and stature, but also see the goodness and faithfulness of God at work in their lives! We hope that you continue to journey and pray with us. May we all triumph over the challenges of this pandemic and may God continue to use the school as His vessel of love for the tribal students and their communities.