The Gabay Erya Formation Program (GEFP Onsite)
Founded on the core values of service, paying it forward, and community building, the Gabay Erya (a Tagalized form of "area", a word used to refer to the program's partner schools) Formation Program or the GEFP is a formation program that seeks to enhance the academic skills of public school students. The program accomplishes this goal by providing the Erya kids with free tutorial sessions in Math and English. In the long term, the GEFP aims to inculcate in its beneficiaries the value of education and grant them better access to quality education. Concretely speaking, we conduct academic enrichment programs for these kids by way of weekly Erya insertions.
The GEFP also endeavors to inspire the Erya kids (who are already tutored in Mathematics and English every week) by showing them that the idea of quality education is indeed possible and tangible for them. Through the Erya Alternative Class Program, the children are given the opportunity to spend one whole day in the Ateneo where they are taught lessons on special subjects, such as chemistry, physics, and theatre arts. On the end of the program, the Erya Recognition Day awards the efforts of the tutees during the past year and urges them to strive harder for their dreams.
However, the current pandemic has made these normal insertions impossible. Keeping true to the mandate of the organization, this year, Erya seeks to engage with the kids through alternative programs. These include donation drives and an Erya hotline where we can provide valuable academic and emotional support to the kids.
Also, much of the energy of the Erya program this year will be exerted to improving the current module and data analysis systems. This makes sure that Erya's future will live well beyond the current times.
Erya Hotline (GEFP Online)
Despite the pandemic, Erya remains committed to its advocacy of providing opportunities for equal, quality education to our Erya kids from our public elementary school partners - Industrial Valley Elementary School and Holy Spirit Elementary School.
By way of initiatives like Erya Hotline, Erya kids can continue receiving help and assistance with their schoolworks from their tutor 'ates' and 'kuyas'. The hotline bridges the gap of the absence of physical tutoring by connecting the kids with volunteer tutors through messenger or text message.
In addition, the Erya Portal and Erya Online Academy supplements in answering the calls of the online setting. The learning resources pool continues making creative material aimed at helping the kids better understand their English and Math lessons. Alternative learning resources composed of interactive graphs, figures and the like also offer a fresh, exciting take to learning.
Erya Online Academy which would mainly utilize the Youtube platform also creates a new avenue for kids to learn and for our content creators to channel their creative selves into making educational videos for the kids. With this initiative, Erya strives to make learning fun, easy and accessible.
Moving forward, Erya is finding ways to strengthen and improve its current systems with the goal of continuing its service through the new normal and beyond.
The Erya Arms
Members of Ateneo Gabay can participate in the Erya Program by being part of any of Erya's three arms.
Spearheaded by the organization's Education Operations Committee, these Erya arms are the:
Tutoring Arm
Members of this arm tutors the Erya kids in each session. They also serve as "ates" and "kuyas" of the kids to guide them in building interest to learn.
Under the new normal, these Ates and Kuyas will serve as a valuable tutor pool to our Erya kids that will help them in their distance learning.
Learning Resources Arm
Content creators craft English and Math modules consisting of a lesson proper and posttest. These modules are utilized by the tutors every week during the insertions.
Under the new normal, content creators are tasked to revamp the current set of modules for the benefit of future Erya programs.Furthermore, alternative set of materials aimed to fit any type of learner will be one of the forefront initiatives of the arm to best cater to the sector.
Erya Research and Data Analysis Arm
Members of this team evaluate the weekly performances of the Erya kids. The evaluation helps the tutoring arm to know the abilities of the kids. In addition, the item analysis helps the modules arm to improve their posttests.
Under the new normal, the DA arm is tasked to revamp the current system for the benefit of future Erya programs. Amped up efforts for feedback-gathering, expert analysis and data-driven decision making will also be enforced to power aforementioned initiatives.
History of Erya
As an organization primarily composed of scholars blessed with the opportunity to study in the Ateneo de Manila University, Ateneo Gabay felt that there was a need to give back by responding to society’s calls of need. Recognizing the value of quality education in the lives of Atenean scholars, the organization saw that the best way to contribute was to serve and support the Philippine public education sector. Thus, in the 1980's (only less than a decade after the organization was founded), its members—who mostly came from public schools themselves--started teaching the elementary students of various partner public schools.
Ateneo Gabay’s former partner public elementary schools include:
Barangka Elementary School,
Belarmino Elementary School,
Teodora Alonzo Elementary School,
Tanong Elementary School,
Balanti Elementary School,
Project 3 Elementary School, and
Batino Elementary School.
After several years of tutoring, Ateneo Gabay was able to send Erya kids to different prestigious high schools (like the Ateneo de Manila High School, Miriam College High School, and Stella Maris College) through the help of various partner organizations, such as, Tulong Dunong and Education Nurtured in Christ. However, throughout the years, the focus of Erya has shifted from scholarship towards academic enrichment. Today, Erya has made an effort in providing programs that would strengthen the academic core of Grade 5 and Grade 6 students of Industrial Valley Elementary School and Holy Spirit Elementary School.
Events
PrepErya
An activity aimed to orient and inspire both old and new members to be part of the Erya Program. The activities mainly involve building their skills as tutors as well as providing a situationer for the program itself.
Erya Babad Session
A brief session that orients both the Erya kids and their parents with the whole program itself. Serving as the first insertion of the members, it's also full of tutor-tutee interactions to provide an opportunity for both parties to know each other and encourage active participation.
Erya Insertions
A series of Saturdays wherein tutors go to the partner schools to teach the students Mathematics and English.
New Normal
Share-ya Donation Drive
An initiative to raise funds for our Erya kids, whose families were largely affected by the pandemic. Money collected is used to provide our kids with basic school supplies to help in their distance learning and groceries for their families.
Online PrepErya
A week-long webinar for the Gabayanos, especially those who missed out on the insertions, which will introduce us further to Gabay Erya Formation Program and its goals. Erya's new alternative initiative, Erya Hotline, will also be introduced here.
Erya Hotline
An alternative to the normal Erya insertions, the hotline aims to help the kids in their distance learning through making our channels available for them to reach us. The mode of this hotline is based on the accessibility of the kids vis-a-vis their learning.
Erya Online Portal
This one-stop FB page where kids can access various learning materials by the learning resources team aims to provide an organized avenue for accessible, easy learning.
Erya Online Academy
The Online Academy aims to provide a platform for creative educational output, different from the traditional learning material, yet fresh and interactive for the kids to have a more efficient method of learning.
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