On Monday, the 3rd of August 2020, the Ateneo Teacher Center (ATC) and Ateneo SALT Institute launched a new effort to reach out to teachers through a radio program called RADYO TURO-GURO.
This year’s Teacher Training Summer Camp–the annual TURO GURO–was understandably cancelled due to the Extended Community Quarantine. But no one expected that it would reincarnate as–of all things!–a radio show for teachers and parents.
It all started when our partner, Jaton Zulueta of AHA Learning Center, met with Fr. Johnny Go SJ, Ateneo SALT Institute Director, for another one of their “What if?” conversations. They spoke of the need to find a way to reach out and to help our teachers given the access issues so many are facing in the country today. Before they knew it, an opportunity presented itself when DZRJ Radyo Bandido, through Jaton, offered SALT a radio program from Monday to Friday from 6 to 6:30 pm.
“Would we be interested?” we were asked.
Always one to say “Why not?”–especially when offered a free primetime time slot!–our team accepted and immediately scrambled to conceptualize the program, as well as to recruit the radio hosts.
Thanks to Lino Rivera, the university’s Vice President for Social Development, we were not only able to consult various divisions of the Department of Education about their needs and plans, but we were also able to recruit them as partner divisions for our radio show. As our partner DepEd divisions, they have agreed to be our consultants for topics for us to take up, as well as possibly guest in the show.
To-date, the following DepEd Divisions have graciously agreed to collaborate with us on this project: Marikina, Pasig, Quezon City, Cebu Province, Iloilo Province, Bohol, South Cotabato, and Iloilo City. We hope to recruit more.
To make a long story short, after all the consultations and brainstorming, RADYO TURO-GURO was born–with ten hosts taking turns and with each of the five days devoted to a subject area–with the exception of Friday , which we’ve decided to open to any topic.
We call our listeners/viewers “katribo” because we want them to feel that they’re part of TRIBE Today— a movement for Teachers Redefining and Innovating for Better Education Today. Resources used in the radio show are also made available in the TRIBE Facebook Group page.
Check out our line-up. As you can see, our hosts are a bunch of very different characters with colorful personalities that should serve the show well.
| Day | Subject | Hosts |
| Mon | English | ISABEL (“Teacher Bel”) PEFIANCO MARTIN (English, LS School of Humanities, AdMU) & DEVI (“Teacher Devi”) PELAEZ (English, LS School of Humanities, AdMU) |
| Tue | Math | RITA (“Teacher Rita”) ATIENZA (Director, Ateneo Teacher Center) & MARC (“Teacher Mac”) HELTON SUA (Math Teacher, Xavier School) |
| Wed | Filipino | PAOLO (“SerPao”) PACULAN (Filipino Teacher, Ateneo Junior High School) & TYRON (“Ser Cas”) CASUMPANG (Filipino Teacher, Ateneo Senior High School) |
| Thu | Science | SABRINA (“Teacher Sabs”) ONGKIKO (Science Teacher, Culiat Elementary School) & REINABELLE (“Teacher Reina”) REYEES (Physics, LS School of Science & Engineering, AdMU) |
| Fri | General | SOLVIE (“Ate Solvie”) NUBLA-LEE (Director, Pathways for Higher Education) & DENZEL (“Kuya Denzel”) DC DOMINGO (Staff, Pathways for Higher Education) |
Please help us spread the word.
Here is the link to the DZRJ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/dzrj810am