iStep Juku Review and Tutorial Center: An article by Business World reveals that the education sector is facing an enormous setback following the 2020 pandemic. Department of Education Undersecretary and Chief of Staff Epimaco V. Densing III, during the Business World Economic Forum, bared that the country has three to five years to reverse the declining trend in education caused by the closure of schools pandemic time and the lack of access to technology.
Moreover, the World Bank tagged the country as one of the worst in terms of learning poverty, with nine out of ten Filipinos unable to read and comprehend by age 10. In addition, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies discovered that only 20% of senior high school graduates were adequately equipped to enter the workforce.
Supporting the country’s educational system is one of the objectives of iStep Juku Review and Tutorial Center.
iStep Juku Review and Tutorial Center is the brainchild of Mary Ann Morano. Morano is a mass communication graduate with ten years of experience as an educator to Japanese and Korean students. She also spent five years as a teacher in government schools in Japan. Prior to working abroad, she worked as a reporter and columnist in various media outfits. To date, she is finishing her Masters Degree in Educational Management and has taken Family Engagement ni Education, a modular course by Harvard University.
After returning to the Philippines, Morano saw the demand for educational support. She also needed one for her children. Thus, she established what is known today as iStep Juku Review and Tutorial Center.
iStep Juku Review and Tutorial Center aspires to provide education support through Japanese learning methods.
“We are using the gakudo (after school), juku(cram school), and kouritsu gakkou (public school) strategies of Japan, universally used strategies, when it comes to their classes,” states Morano, “these strategies are very effective regardless of the intellectual capacity or smartness of the kids,” she added.
Juku is a privately run, after-hours tutoring school geared to help elementary and secondary students perform better in their regular daytime schoolwork and to offer cram courses in preparation for university entry examinations. (Britannica)
Morano also explains the environment that the center provides.
“I believe that all kids have multiple intelligences that we just need to power up in them. In this center, we are balancing the academic performance of the children and their success in entrance exams so that they can choose the best school for them,” Morano says.
iStep Juku Review and Tutorial Center provides center-based, home-based, and online classes – individualized/one on one, and group classes. Programs include:
- Modules Assistance
- Specialized/Advanced Lessons
- Lesson Review and Homework Assistance
- Basic Journalism
- Creative Writing and Grammar
- Speech and Personality Development
- First Steps to Reading, Writing, and Counting
Locations: Iloilo City: Mezzanine Flr. 7J Corporate Center (Formerly ATM Building), Corner Jalandoni-Ledesma Streets (Fronting Sea Oil and Adventist), Iloilo City | Miagao – 2nd Flr., P&V Building, Barangay. Maty (Above Beans and Bubbles), Miagao, Iloilo | Oton – San Jose Compound, Barangay. Buray (Fronting Seven Gas Station), Oton, Iloilo
Above: Students Aisha and Francis share their IStep-Up Juku journey. Aisha Mattea Piccio is a third-grade student, with honors, at Miagao Central Elementary School. Francis Jude Muzones, meanwhile, is an eighth-grade student at Miagao National High School, in Special Science Class, and a consistent honor student. Both have specialized/advanced programs at IStep-Up Juku and have been with the review and tutorial center for two years.
