Gokongwei scholars get to dream bigger
Jhan Albert Avila’s story is the stuff told in many tearjerker films and television soap operas.
The second of nine children, his basic education was spotty, away from school almost as often as he needed to work odd jobs to augment the family income. He did manage to get a high school diploma and even briefly tried to pursue a college education while working at the same time.
But working and studying, he found out, were not much easier in college as it was when he was in elementary and high school. “In the four semesters I was in college, I was often in the president’s office to get his signature on promissory notes so I can enroll in the next semester,” Avila recalls, speaking in Filipino.
Then he heard about the Iskolar ni Juan (INJ) program of the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation and decided to apply. Food manufacturing giant Universal Robina Corp. (URC) hired him as a maintenance technician as soon as he completed his training. The job enabled him to help two siblings get college degrees.
As he rose from plant production operator to certified plant subject matter expert and trainer, he has been sent to different URC plants for corporate maintenance, and experienced the thrill of traveling in an airplane for the first time.
Avila’s is one of the more dramatic success stories of the 500 or so young people who had been trained through INJ, which marks its 10th anniversary this year.
The flagship technology-vocational scholarship program of the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation (GBF), the philanthropic arm of the Gokongwei Group, INJ provides skills training and employment in URC to underprivileged youth.
Launched in 2014 in partnership with URC, Iskolar ni Juan is a fully subsidized scholarship grant that covers tuition, transportation, school supplies, uniforms, accommodation and meals for underprivileged senior high school graduates and college undergraduates between 18 and 28 years old.
Scholars are trained in mechatronics and have the opportunity to be employed in a URC production facility upon completion of their training.
The program consists of a seven-month academic term and a five-month on-the-job training at URC plants and other business affiliates.
Pathway from education to employment
Marcia Gokongwei, daughter of the late tycoon John Gokongwei and managing director of the GBF Board of Trustees, explains the foundation’s focus on education. “My father once said, ‘Education is the only way to save this country.’ And he believed in this wholeheartedly that he put up the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation … for the singular purpose of pushing this advocacy.”
She adds, “It is our firm and shared belief that education is the key to progress.”
Driven by this commitment, one of GBF’s first projects is the Technical Training Center (TTC) that has since moved from Pasig City to its current location in Calamba City in Laguna. It is where INJ grantees are trained in the skills needed by URC plants and support groups, using state-of-the-art equipment and facilities by trainors fully certified by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
“This center is meant to sharpen technical skills needed in the manufacturing industry so we can remain competitive globally,” Marcia says. INJ is meant to offer a pathway from education to employment.
Raymund Ganotice, TTC director, adds that INJ students are trained not only in technical skills, but also in life skills needed to succeed. “They are given leadership and job-readiness workshops to help them become employable.”
Arnel Nunez, URC director for corporate maintenance, says, “INJ scholars have contributed significantly to our productivity and efficiency. Each day, our INJ scholars bring their skills, expertise and unwavering determination to ensure that our operations run smoothly and effectively … and their work has a direct impact on the quality and reliability that our customers have come to trust and depend on. Their contribution extends beyond the tangible outputs; it is also about the positive energy and teamwork they bring to the workplace.”
High impact
INJ’s first decade proved to be a successful multi-stakeholder advocacy, says Grace Colet, GBF executive director. “As we prepare to widen the impact of this program, we want to double our reach to more students in need, change more lives for the better.”
A significant achievement of the program is that most of the graduates have opted to stay with URC, although they are expected to work at the company for only a year. Reena Tecson, the company’s human resources director, says about 60 percent of the workers stayed with URC.
Avila is among that 60 percent. Secure in his job, where he continues to rise, he seems to have decided to be firmly anchored to URC while pursuing a college education to achieve his lifelong dream of becoming an engineer.
