Ateneo de Manila and the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation have partnered to establish a school that is dedicated to developing educators at a time when innovation is most needed because of the pandemic.
The new Ateneo component school will be named the Gokongwei Brothers School of Education and Learning Design (GBSEALD) in recognition of the "extraordinary donation" from the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation to establish the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation Endowment for Educational Innovation.
It will come at a time when the Philippines is "at the threshold of an exciting period of reinvention,” said former ADMU president Fr. Jose Ramon T Villarin SJ, under whose leadership GBSEALD was formally initiated.
“The school promises not only to raise the quality of Philippine education by upskilling teachers and upgrading content and pedagogy in a digital world,” Villarin said. “It will also be busy working with others to upscale the lessons we have learned and remove the systemic and leadership burdens that have bedeviled us for decades.”
“We believe that this endowment and strategic partnership with a trusted institution like Ateneo, allows us to become a meaningful contributor towards helping transform Philippine education to meet the challenges of a continuously evolving world,” said GBF chairman Lance Y. Gokongwei.
There will be three strategic goals for GBSEALD: capacity building, knowledge building, and influence/network building.
The first focuses on high-quality teacher education degrees, teacher training, and leadership development, particularly in STEM, literacy, critical thinking, and Catholic education, as well as through linkages with selected teacher education institutions.
The second goal is for research activities, particularly to aid in educational policy and the improvement of pedagogies and educational systems and learning and teaching methods and processes.
The last goal covers strategic partnerships with educational institutions, government, and the private sector on issues in such as Philippine educational reform, STEM education, and improving literacy.
Under GBSEALD, the Lily Gokongwei Ngochua Leadership Academy, under GBSEALD. The Academy will be established to offer leadership development programs for educational leaders, such as principals, particularly those in the public education sector.
The endowment was made possible by GBF, led by its Chair, Lance Y. Gokongwei, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Ateneo de Manila; GBF President James L. Go, an original donor to the Foundation; as well as the Trustees of GBF representing their parents who endowed the Foundation, and who are also Ateneo alumni: Patrick Henry C. Go, Johnson Robert G. Go Jr, and Lisa Y. Gokongwei-Cheng.
Lisa Y. Gokongwei-Cheng, GBF General Manager ,said strengthening the educational stakeholders' capability to drive and deliver quality education and provide better access to it is one of the foundation’s mandates.
“We are pleased and delighted to be collaborating again with Ateneo, this time through GBSEALD, as we work towards our goal of developing our teachers and educators, who are the shapers of our future citizens,” said Gokongwei-Cheng.
