This Is How URC Is Taking Filipino Bakers’ Skills to the Next Level
URC’s Flourish Pilipinas expands with nationwide training for bread and pastry instructors
by COMS360| Jan 29, 2020
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Universal Robina Corporation, one of the Philippines’ largest food and beverage manufacturers, has partnered once again with the Department of Education to further the reach of its innovative learning enhancement program, Flourish Pilipinas. In 2018, the URC Flourish Pilipinas Multimedia Toolkit on Bread and Pastry Production was developed to provide public school teachers and students access to a wide range of multimedia tools that are more interactive, standardized, and cost-effective.
In further support of the growth of the country’s baking industry, bread and pastry teachers from public schools in various regions of the country were invited to participate in a series of training sessions on the proper and effective utilization of the toolkit. Attended by a total of 205 teachers at the Baker John Academy in Quezon City from November 11 to December 6, 2019, the instructors were introduced to the learning materials, taught new recipes, and equipped with the necessary baking skills and pastry-making techniques to properly aid them as they pass their learnings onto their students and even to their colleagues.
Front row, from left: Nicanor Ines (Technology Director, URC Flour), Naida Ebora (Sales, Marketing and Distribution Director, URC Flour), Luz Ferraren (Senior Education Program Specialist, Department of Education), Ellison Dean Lee (Managing Director, URC Flour), Ma. Lilia Andres (Marketing Manager, URC Flour), Cecilia Ubarra (Managing Director, Knowledge Community Inc.), and Al Moreto Orbecido (Product Development and Services Manager, URC Flour)
According to DepEd Senior Education Program Specialist Luz Ferraren, “Through the training of our teachers, we can help develop the competency of our learners and we can elevate the standard of teaching within classrooms nationwide.”
“Our goal here is to not replace the teacher, but to aid them with a unified toolkit and comprehensive learning resources to further enhance their skills in baking,” added Naida D. Ebora, National Sales and Marketing Director of the URC Flour and Pasta Division.
URC Flour and Pasta division supports the country’s baking industry by enhancing the skills of bakers and would-be bakers.
Developed by URC’s Pasta and Flour Division, in partnership with the DepEd and Knowledge Community Inc., the training of these teachers under the Flourish Pilipinas Project is the next step of the pioneering efforts of the food and beverage company to support the country’s baking industry and enhance the skills of bakers and would-be bakers.
URC Marketing Manager Ma. Lilia Andres expressed how the advocacy of URC’s founder, the late John Gokongwei Jr., played an integral role in the development of the Flourish Pilipinas Project: “The Flourish Pilipinas campaign of URC followed his belief of supporting the education of students and teachers. Mr. John believed and had the vision of building a nation of entrepreneurs. With this campaign, we hope that through you teachers, we could build a nation of entrepreneurs starting with our young Filipino bakers.”
Furthermore, Cecilia Ubarra, Managing Director of Knowledge Community Inc., also shared how the Flourish Pilipinas Project is a model on how a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program should work in supporting the education of the youth. “Let’s all keep the goal in mind—which is to make sure that our young Filipino students become world-class bakers. They will not just be technical experts, but they will also embody the passion for feeding nutritious bread, cakes, and pastries to their clients and customers, and eventually become top-standard employees and entrepreneurs.”
For Ellison Dean C. Lee, URC Vice President and Business Unit General Manager, the training of the teachers indicates a promising future for the expansion of the project. “Thanks to the support of our management, we’re proud to say that since we started six months ago, we’ve already had 40 class sessions and we’ve reached over 700 participants, of which around 200 were teachers from the education sector. We anticipate training even more teachers from the other remaining regions.”
Jomar Leabres, Master Teacher III at Dalandanan National High School, in behalf of all of the teachers, expressed his heartfelt thanks and appreciation for the one of a kind opportunity presented by URC and DepEd: “Moving forward from this national training, we promise to be that medium of change within our school divisions. To my fellow teachers, hopefully we can implement what we have learned here in our classrooms and impart the knowledge to our students.”
As the second year of the Flourish Pilipinas Project has come to an end, URC and its partners are already looking forward to further improving their program and scaling their reach for more trained bread and pastry teachers and instructors in the country.
For more information on URC and its portfolio of products, visit www.urc.com.ph
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