They say that the first step is always the hardest – but when you set your foot with the right goal in mind, then it’s not an impossible journey. The pandemic had caused numerous adversities to the Philippines and with the country’s education in great peril, we knew something must be done to help.
“Na-realize namin that there’s something that we need to do. And we are all passionate in education and mentoring. Naisip namin is a marketplace para matulungan natin yung mga bata. Unang-una, mahirap po ang online. Tapos syempre wala hong masyadong focus sa mga bata. Naisip naming kailangan ng way para magkaroon ng one-on-one assistance yung mga bata at least through tutoring. It’s not limited to just teachers, pero yun po yung majority ng mabibigyan natin ng opportunity to earn additional income.”
-Kristine Brown, CEO and Founder of Chalkboard
Not long after such realizations, Chalkboard was established. Chalkboard is an online tutorial platform that gives K-12 students access to expert educators. It’s the Philippines’ first end-to-end platform for tutorial services. We want quality education to be accessible to many learners at a very attainable rate with only the best tutors in the country. To achieve this, we went on to find tutors and that is when we crossed paths with Sikap.ph which is a Bayanihanapbuhay program of Angat Buhay from the Office of the Vice President Leni Robredo. Angat Buhay is the Office of the Vice President’s anti-poverty program that links communities that need help to partner organizations wanting to help.
Angat Buhay’s Sikap.ph is an online platform that offers job opportunities to Filipinos – especially to those who were affected by the pandemic and lost their jobs and living. Having the same goal of giving more Filipinos a higher chance of employment, Chalkboard sought the help of Sikap.ph to find and recruit online tutors. We were able to get a lot of applicants from it and were able to hire numerous teachers to become our very own Chalkboard tutors.
Our teachers were as equally affected by the aftermaths of COVID-19 as our students. Many were forced to stop from teaching and working because of the closure of the different schools all over the country. And having to stop from teaching means having to stop from earning and providing for their own families. And we both wanted to help our teachers and our students to each procure their needs.
Our eagerness to help did not stop us there. We reached out once more to Angat Buhay and asked how Chalkboard can give assistance to their programs. That’s when we discovered about their Community Learning Hub. It launched last October 2020 in Pasig City. This program is aimed at allowing students who lack gadgets or the internet connections to find a place for distance and blended learning — modes of education pursued by the government to avoid COVID-19 transmissions — to be able to continue studying and complying with requirements. They also have other facilities set up in Caloocan City, Rizal, Negros Occidental, Lucena City, and Albay.
With a lot of our tutors being exceptional and knowledgeable in different ways of teaching, we figured that we can give help to the Community Learning Hub by giving pointers on how to make a comfortable learning community to the children. Chalkboard is very fortunate to have the aid of of Angat Buhay in this journey of helping a lot of our Kababayans. We couldn’t let our youth’s education be sacrificed and be left out. And we strongly believe that our initiative in Chalkboard is one step closer to bringing excellence in education straight from the homes of many families. It is in the most trying times that we bring out the best among ourselves – and it is what we need the most to rise above this pandemic.
