APC learns and hopes with Jesuit educators at JBEC gathering

Educators from the Jesuit Basic Education Commission (JBEC) schools gathered in September 2025 at Xavier University Pueblo Campus in Cagayan de Oro City for several days of learning, prayer, and sharing. Risajean Berdesola and Bridgit Ann Cuevas-Garcia joined from APC to listen, connect, and bring back insights and learnings for the Indigenous teachers and learners in Bendum.

The gathering felt, at many moments, like a reunion of friends who understand the same joys and burdens. The JBEC school administrators spoke openly about their students, their communities, and the quiet battles they carry into their classrooms every day. But the mood shifted when Dr. Karol Mark Yee , EDCOM II Executive Director, presented the 2025 EDCOM II report. Suddenly, the challenges felt bigger than any single school. Dr. Yee shared the national picture in stark terms:

• 85% of Grades 1–3 learners cannot read at their grade level.
• Only 5% are ready in basic numeracy.
• One in four Filipino children is stunted.
• Only 21% of children aged 3–4 are in early childhood programs.

For many in the room, the data was heartbreaking. For APC, it was also deeply familiar.

Teachers like Risajean see these struggles every day in the uplands – children walking long distances with empty stomachs, older siblings caring for younger ones, and learners entering school late because of cultural, geographic, or economic barriers. The numbers were not abstract. They had names and faces.

“Seeing the national data felt heavy,” Risajean shared quietly afterward. “But listening to the stories of other school officials, themselves teachers, reminded me that we are not alone in this. Their courage encouraged me. It pushed me to keep going.”

Another turning point in the gathering came during Fr. Danny Huang SJ’s session on Sharing the Gift of Faith in a Pluralistic Age. His talk offered a different kind of diagnosis – not of academic gaps, but of the deeper changes shaping the hearts and minds of today’s young people.

Fr. Huang explained that we are living not just in a time of change, but in a change of era. Christianity, once woven into the rhythms of daily life, no longer occupies the center of culture. Young people today search for meaning in a world filled with noise, pressure, and endless options. Many feel lost, lonely, or unsure where they belong. But he also offered hope: This is not the end of faith. It is the beginning of something new. His invitation was simple yet profound:

• Start with accompaniment with listening and trust.
• Create spaces for freedom from distraction and pressure.
• Offer moments of real encounter in prayer, community, and service.
• Help students imagine who they can become when guided by faith and compassion.

For Bridgit, Fr. Huang’s words connected deeply with her work in APC, where accompaniment is not a method but a way of life – walking with teachers, listening to them, and helping ground learning processes in APC to culture and land.

Despite the gravity of the challenges shared during this JBEC meeting, participants left with renewed purpose – committed to strengthening Jesuit education programs, improving early childhood support, building community partnerships, and accompanying the young with compassion and hope.

APC, for its part, looks forward to the return of Jesuit Volunteers Philippines (JVP) volunteers in Bendum, and to deepening its collaboration with other JBEC schools. These partnerships matter. They remind APC that even though the mountains feel far from the cities, the mission is shared.

The gathering closed with a sense of solidarity and an understanding that while the work is hard, no one is carrying it alone. As APC continues its mission of offering culture-rooted education to Indigenous children, it does so with the strength from a larger community of educators who dream of a better future for every Filipino learner.

Photo above: APC representatives Risajean Berdesola (2^nd row, 1^st from left) and Bridgit Ann Cuevas-Garcia (4^th row, 1^st from left) join educators from Jesuit schools nationwide during the JBEC meeting at Xavier University Pueblo Campus in Cagayan de Oro City.