Rina Lopez BautistaKNOWLEDGE Channel Foundation Inc. (KCFI) president Rina Lopez- Bautista believes education is the key to the country’s progress and to providing better lives for all Filipinos. Demonstrating the pioneering entrepreneurial spirit that has characterized Lopez Group endeavors for more than 80 years, she cofounded KCFI in 1999 to help bridge the learning and resource gaps in the Philippine education system, primarily through the use of educational media.

“While there have been many improvements in the Philippine education system over the past few years, there are still severe learning and resource gaps that need to be addressed. Data from the Department of Education (DepEd) show that achievement levels among our students have remained low—but what most people will be surprised to know is that this is true not just in public schools, but in most private schools as well,” says Lopez-Bautista.

She shares that in the 2008-2010 National Achievement Test (NAT), high school students showed a decline in performance: from 49% in 2008, their scores went down to 45% in 2009. The alarming fact is that both figures are way below the DepEd’s near mastery level standard of 75%. “We had no model to follow, but we knew what resources we had. We had access to media facilities and understood its potential, so we conceptualized the Knowledge Channel as a way to help our underserved and marginalized Filipino learners to have better opportunities for a better life,” TIMELINE says Lopez-Bautista.

Flagship program
The Knowledge Channel (KCh) is KCFI’s flagship program, and is the only all-educational channel in the Philippines. The channel produces and broadcasts 14 hours of educational programs anchored on the DepEd’s prescribed curriculum for elementary and high school. Aside from KCh, the foundation also provides educational TV facilities to public schools at no cost to them, and trains teachers on how to use television as a teaching tool for the critical subjects of English, Science and Math.

Students in KCh beneficiary schools have shown improvements in performance, with a University of the Philippines Statistical Research Center study indicating a 3% increase in their NAT scores. KCh beneficiary schools have also seen improvements in completion rates and attendance levels, and increase in enrollment rates.

Lopez-Bautista’s work in KCFI takes her around the country, which includes some of the remotest areas in the archipelago. Due to these areas’ relative inaccessibility, she invariably finds people who are in great need of basic social services.

Social justice and nationalism
“When I go to the remote areas, I see in the people’s eyes that they are pinning their hopes on me. I know that we cannot bring them everything they need but what we do bring them will equip them with the education, the skills and the opportunity to get out of poverty. This is what drives us to these places. There is so much that needs to be done,” she says, emphasizing that when you work for the Filipino, you are addressing both values of social justice and nationalism.

This same sense of social justice has brought Lopez-Bautista to become active in the Global Philanthropists Circle (GPC), a network of philanthropic families organized by the New York-based Synergos Institute. The Lopez family is the sole Filipino family member of GPC and Synergos, which aims to address global poverty and social injustice by bringing together government, business, civil society and poor and marginalized communities to create sustainable systems change.

Last January, Lopez-Bautista spearheaded the yearlong program Building Bridges Leadership Journey, which brought together 19 youth leaders aged 21-35 from the country’s prominent political and business families in order to deepen their knowledge of society’s needs and inspire them to respond accordingly. The effort was organized in cooperation with Synergos Senior Fellows in the Philippines, and is expected to continue with a new batch of young leaders next year.

Developing future leaders
The Senior Fellows Network, also organized by Synergos Institute, is a worldwide network of distinguished civil society leaders committed to addressing the underlying causes of poverty and inequity.

Throughout all these initiatives, Lopez-Bautista’s work always redounds to the benefit of the country, developing future leaders and equipping learners everywhere with the knowledge and skills needed to advance in the world.

For this month and going forward, Lopez-Bautista invites LopezLink readers to support their Ka- RUNungan 2010: Run for Knowledge campaign, either by participating or supporting runners in the ING New York City Marathon. Funds raised will go to KCFI programs that directly benefit Filipino learners in and out of school.

“There is so much that we need to do for our country, and there is so much each of us can do. It’s a matter of finding and knowing our talents and gifts, and using them for the good of the country. We believe that education is the key to our country’s progress, so I hope more people can join KCFI in helping Filipino learners be their best selves—for themselves, and more importantly, for others,” she says.