Absenteeism due to child labour, dropouts due to financial status, these are just a few of the reasons for the decline of the National Achievement Test (NAT) scores for two schools, Tan Yan Kee Elementary School, and Buyasyas Elementary School in Nueva Vizcaya. The information was shared by Ms. Sarah Apurillo, School Division Superintendent of Leyte in her special lecture last March 2, 2014. “No time should be wasted and we don’t want to tolerate the decreasing average rate of the schools,” Ms. Apurillo said.

In the effort to prepare our nation’s teachers for the upcoming K-12 curriculum, Tan Yan Kee Foundation, Inc. (TYKFI) brought 31 teachers from Ilocos Sur to the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) to attend a 10-day Summer Workshop in Science last April 2014. The workshop is part of a series of “Train the Trainers” program by TYKFI. A few of the enjoyable activities to mention were: volcano modelling (from ordinary grocery materials), stargazing under the UPLB sky, and applying projectile motion thru a ‘Minute to Win It’ contest. Truly, learning should be fun, but teaching should be equally fun as well.