ACED and CFC kick off Cornerstone Program again this SY 2022-2023

The Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) relaunched the Cornerstone Program last November 2022 through the initiative of the Couples for Christ North B Sector led by Mr. Arturo Zuniga, who is also the moderator of the Ateneo Grade School Kids for Christ Club. This program provides tutorial sessions for public school students who have difficulty with reading. The partner schools that will benefit from this initiative are Balara Elementary School, San Vicente Elementary School, Pinyahan Elementary School, Old Balara Elementary School, Dona Juana Elementary School, MLQ Elementary School, Bagong Silangan Elementary School, and San Diego Elementary School.

Aside from tutorial reading sessions, the program also includes Parenting Programs for the parents of students in the Reading Tutorials and Values Formation Sessions.

The partnership between ACED and CFC was first established in 2011, to provide assistance to public school students who were having difficulty with reading and introduce formation programs that sought to equip youth and adults in the school community with the human and social, moral and spiritual, and professional aspects of their development. The program also aimed to provide the youth with skills  that could help improve student performance and enable them to become productive members of society. ACED developed the materials and managed the program and the CFC generously fielded volunteers to implement the various program components.

During the first year of the program (SY 2011 – 2012), there were 15 Cornerstone partner public schools. This then increased to 46 schools in SY 2012-2013 and grew to 67 schools in SY 2013-2014. By 2019, there were a total of 121 Cornerstone Partner Schools in various parts of the country: Region I (1); Region III (7); Region IV-A (16): Region V (1); Region VII (24); Region VIII (7); Region IX (3); Region X (9); Region XI (5); Region XII (1); XIII (1); NCR (46).

The program was put on hold throughout the pandemic although some CFC sectors conducted online reading tutorial sessions in some partner schools. Discussions on the revival of the program in partnership with Couples for Christ (CFC) Global Mission Foundation, Inc. are ongoing.

The program’s relaunching seeks to address the learning loss that has been a consequence of the pandemic, especially in under-resourced environments.

For more information on how to support the program, please contact aced@ateneo.edu.

Photo courtesy of Couples for Christ.