Eight-year-old Neil John Asignacion warmly greeted me as I approached his school’s reception area one afternoon. Immediately after delivering his salutation, he went on by saying, “Would you like to get yourself some placemats made of coconut or try some of the pastries students baked? We also sell hand painted bags like these, for only P5,000. We students made all these.”
Neil John is one of the students of Happy Beginners School of Learning who are being trained how to be entrepreneurial. The program is called Kidstrepreneur. It aims to expose young students to activities that will teach them life skills and inspire them to be entrepreneurial.
The one-day fair enabled nursery and Grade 4 students to experience how to purchase goods but also observe how entrepreneurs work and deal with customers. Most of all, the children got to learn how to transact using money. Teachers and parents helped the students understand the value of money, emphasizing the importance of taking care of it. Those belonging to the Special Education and Transition Classes also participated in the different activities.
“Our goal is for both typical and neurotypical kids to learn life skills, socialize with other people and teach them also how to handle money. Through these activities we are able to help prepare them for the real world outside of school,” explained Fely Mae Oñate, academic program director of the school.
Parents of schoolchildren also play a vital role in training their kids for bigger and more serious tasks in life, the reason why the school always enjoins them in activities that aim to develop students holistically.
Eulee Favorite, a mother and entrepreneur, strongly believes in molding children not only to be educated members of the community but also to become self-sustaining and enterprising individuals.
She was among the parents who participated in the fair. She sold native delicacies from her hometown, Hinigaran.
“I want to expose my 5-year-old son, John Joseph, to real life. He needs to participate in school activities because we have to teach our kids early about life. When we were younger, I remember, we were already helping our parents not only with chores but even with bigger tasks. Nowadays, children are very dependent on their parents. Almost everything is provided to them. You can rarely see them helping out,” said Favorite.
Through their exposure to different activities at the fair, students are not only taught daily living skills but also they learn how to use courteous expressions and the right values.
Precious Geronimo, school directress, said the pandemic has caused a delay in the development of children because most of them were isolated for more than 2 years.
“This program exposes them to the real world. We want to discover skills and interests among our students that can be developed, so that we can reinforce these. Socialization is very important. We need to expose them to different types of people and teach them how to communicate and interact with adults while observing good manners and right conduct,” emphasized Geronimo.
Meanwhile, in a separate activity, the students wore uniforms of professionals they dream to become someday. During the “Career Day”, students dressed as teacher, nurse, doctor, soldier, chef, flight attendant and pilot paraded on stage. Parents giggled and clapped as they watched their children proudly declare who they want to be when they grow up through the uniforms they wore.
Activities like these are indeed vital to the development of every child as the tasks given them do not only allow them to enjoy but also develop their skills and enable them to interact meaningfully with other people. Another good thing about schools providing the much-needed exposure to students especially those who have special needs, is that the children are given venues where they can explore and discover their talents and interests so that they can be given the support and training they need to reinforce these gifts and utilize it properly for a good cause.*
