Coke is it when it comes to giving students life skills

Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. —John Dewey

MANILA, Philippines - Some 23 million Filipino students have started a new school year, but more than the usual exams and pop quizzes, young pupils face challenges like peer pressure, bullying, and unforeseen life choices that could greatly impact their future.

Global beverage giant Coca-Cola is taking the necessary steps to enhance their schooling in the hopes of a lighter and brighter tomorrow.  “As a company, we believe in developing all the communities where we are present,” said Coca-Cola FEMSA communications manager Cat Avelino. “As our corporate philosophy, we believe in the simultaneous generation of economic, social, and environmental values for everyone who comes across our business. Anything that we are able to do to improve the lives of the Filipino people, in the end, is going to be beneficial for our consumers.”

While it has always been underlined in every CSR rulebook that investing in the consumer and its general sustainability constitute the greatest rewards, be it in business or societal impact, Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines’ recent P13-million endowment for its newest social responsibility program in the country turns to an often overlooked but urgent need: that of the education system.

Taking a cue from its mother company, FEMSA (Fomento Economico Mexicano), the largest franchise bottler of the legendary brand all over the world, operating in nine Latin American countries, Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines, representing the first and only Asian venture for the distributing giant, recently unveiled the “Coordinates for Life” program in 10 public schools across the Metro.    

“We are very fortunate to have this DNA, and to work for a company that has, for more than 120 years, been investing in education,” explained FEMSA Social Sustainability manager Anik Vares, who personally flew from her native Mexico to observe and participate in the groundbreaking knowledge-transfer workshop. “The Coordinates for Life program arises from this conviction that it is through education that we can drive change, and we can drive development.”

The Coordinates for Life program traces its roots to 2011, and has since touched the lives of over 32,000 students, almost 4,000 educators and more than 22,000 parents and attendees of its well-designed and informative lectures across South America. Its purveyor, Dr. José Rubén Riojas, socio-director for the Desarrollo Humano y Cambio Organizacional (DEHYCO), a leading human development and organizational company based in Mexico, designed an extra-educational program that taps into the 16 life skills beneficial to the holistic development of a child in going through the various stages of life.

“It’s a theory that we have been developing for a long time, for over 15 years, and has proven to be a real way to foster good human beings, to help people to go through their childhood to their adolescence, to become men and women with better social responsibilities,” Riojas explained. These life skills include self-confidence, assertiveness, empathy, understanding consequences, peer pressure, and anger and stress management, which greatly address the issues of bullying, respect for authority, and the development of a healthier lifestyle.

“We want to equip these children with the tools to make better life decisions,” Riojas further stressed when going through the program’s four-step curriculum, which includes “Deciding Your Future,” “Preparing for Tomorrow,” “Guiding Your Steps,” and “Sharing Roads.” “What’s important is that we know how a kid makes the right decisions. That is how we know it’s a success,” Riojas added.

The importance of making the right decisions and starting them young alludes to a more fruitful future for today’s youth, who are constantly faced with the grim realities of unemployment, the growing socio-economic gap, as well as constant exposure to narcotic drugs and crime. “When you’re talking about making the right decisions, there is no test for that,” professed Riojas. “There is no exam. It is life, and life in itself is a test.”

Partnering with Riojas and FEMSA on implementing the Coordinates for Life program in the country is Teach for the Philippines, an NGO that has, in only two years, succeeded in pushing and propagating its quality education initiative across the archipelago by placing volunteer educators attuned to the foundation’s ideals in the public school system. 

“Teach for the Philippines is so humbled and honored to partner with the Coordinates for Life team from Coca-Cola FEMSA, because we believe that their curriculum in decision-making skills and life skills is extremely relevant in the public schools in our country,” said Teach for the Philippines chief operating officer Clarissa Delgado. “And we are proud to transfer that knowledge to all of our public school teachers, because our kids make a lot of decisions every day, and we think that it will make a huge difference in their lives.”

Delgado, with the rest of the Teach for the Philippines team, assisted in getting the Coordinates for Life program in 10 key public schools across Quezon City, the biggest one being Commonwealth Elementary School, home to 7,970 elementary students.

Focusing on third-grade primary students, considered the pivotal year in a child’s education, when one transforms from child to adolescent, as well as the period when the highest dropout rate is recorded, the Coordinates for Life program is now being implemented by Teach for the Philippines’ teacher fellows. “We directly impact about 2,600,” shared Teach for the Philippines’ CEO Margarita Delgado. “The Coordinates for Life program is only a pilot, but I have no doubt that it is already beginning to add value. I could see it with the students, and their teachers, and their parents just over the last two weeks.”

While Coordinates for Life does not promise smarter, more academic-savvy kids, the program provides them life skills that can help them compete and cope better in life. 

“I think what’s revolutionary about it, from my perspective, is that academics are perhaps less relevant today than they have ever been,” said Teach for the Philippines chairman of the board Elizabeth “Lizzie” Zobel. Information is readily available on the Internet. If we need to check a fact or a figure it is very easy for us to do.”

Zobel said that today, it’s about learning to make decisions that are relevant to your long-term goals. “We at Teach for the Philippines have always thought that a transformation inside the classroom is a transformation where our students recover a sense of possibility,” she said. “Those life skills, or having a life plan, are a very significant part of succeeding on your own. Whatever our goals may be, whether it to be a shoemaker, a tailor, a doctor, a president, or a CEO, that is a plan. And if we can help our public school students create a plan, if we can give them the skills to allow them to stick to that plan, to make the decisions that carry them through that journey, that’s the most important lesson that we’re imparting.”

And with the right coordinates for life, we’re sure that our Filipino students will never get lost on the road to their future.