Catholic schools, Church to address OFW kids learning issues

Catholic schools are working more closely with the Catholic Church to help address school-related problems among children of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have been deprived of the physical presence of their parents. Schools’ guidance counselors have noted attitude problems including difficulties in comprehension and adjustment to regular school routines, said Fr. Erwin Corros, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Migrant and Itinerant People (ECMI), an agency under the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). Teachers likewise cited the below average scholastic performance which Corros attributed to lack of parental supervision, according to an article posted on the CBCP news site. “Ideally, parents have to be physically present to supervise their children but economic reasons made either or both parents leave for overseas employment," Corros said. The schools thus called on the ECMI to be more active on the matter. Malaybalay Bishop Honesto Pacana had called on ECMI before he retired to coordinate with the schools and facilitate a seminar for teachers to detect difficulties faced by OFWs' children, according to Corros. “It would be easier to form OFW support groups in various parts of the country because they would only do a simple survey to [know who] among elementary pupils and high school students have one or both parents abroad," Corros explained. Working relations with Catholic schools have already been established in the Archdioceses of San Fernando (Pampanga) and Lipa (Batangas), Diocese of San Fernando (La Union), Bayombong (Nueva Vizcaya) and Imus (Cavite), he said. The program became the foundation for the annual search for outstanding children of OFWs under the Sons and Daughters of OFWs Association. - JMA/RJAB Jr./JV, GMANews.TV