The Bellevue Resort in Bohol, through their partner foundation Specialized Training and Education for Pilipino Students (STEPS) Mission School, recently teamed up with Anthony Wu and Jeannie Jin of Your Time Import and Export to open the Mobile Classroom of Hope for pupils in Barangay Doljo, Panglao.
The classroom primarily stands as a supplementary daycare center to teach children how to read before they enter grade school. It also offers livelihood training programs for parents of enrolled students.
With The Bellevue Resort’s longtime commitment to sustainability, it has made certain that this project is no exception to them. The resort harnesses its energy from solar panels to minimize environmental impact and maximize cost efficiency which they also see as a great opportunity to educate children about climate change and the importance of promoting sustainability.
“When we learned that 40 percent of fourth graders in public schools still do not know how to read, we thought of different ways to help the community here in Bohol. And one of our best means is to increase access to education.” shares Dustin Chan, managing director of The Bellevue Resort. “We are grateful to STEPS and Your Time Import and Export for partnering with us to give hope and guidance to children to have brighter futures.”
Today, the Brgy. Doljo preschool has 50 pupils under the mentorship of two full-time and part-time teachers. The organization also currently holds phonics classes for 80 first-grade pupils from different elementary schools in the local community.
With the addition of the Mobile Classroom of Hope, the project now has five existing classrooms. Classes are completely free. All they need to do is for the parents to sign a commitment to participate in educating their children by continuing the teaching at home.
Since The Bellevue Resort launched its Mission School with STEPS 10 years ago, they have reaped the priceless reward of seeing thousands of graduates, including pupils who have finished at the top 10 of their classes during elementary school.