Decreasing Absenteeism through "Buddy Ko, Sagot Ko" Program

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Absenteeism is intentional or unintentionally missing out of the school day's activities. San Agustin Central Elementary School with a total population of 513 students encountered issues on absenteeism resulting in poor academic performance. Subject teachers of Grade VI-Humility also observed this problem. At the end of the second quarter, the teacher assessed performance in terms of their grades. Out of 35 students, 9 were identified to be frequently absent based on the School Form 2 record.

METHODS

A 20-day regular session through "Buddy Ko, Sagot Ko Program" was given to 9 students who were identified to be always absent in class which resulted in low-performance ratings. They were purposely given a buddy in all the classroom activities from November 6-December 1, 2017. Their attendance was checked and monitor regularly in every session. Their second quarter performance rating will be the basis for results analyses. The buddy system is a procedure in which two people, the "buddies", operate together as a single unit so that they are able to monitor and help each other.

This action research used the descriptive method. Data collection was based on school form 2 and a performance rating for the second quarter.

RESULTSThere is an increase in students' performance rating after the intervention. 100% of students in developing levels increased to approaching proficiency levels.

The results showed that "Buddy Ko, Sagot Ko "is indeed effective considering the increase of the performance level of the students after the intervention. Therefore, the teacher is encouraged to give extra attention to those who are left in the lesson. Cooperative learning should be practice in the teaching-learning process. Once students have someone of their same age who can remind them of their activities, they will be obliged to do their task and they will be motivated to come to school regularly and thus, self-confidence is gained.

DISCUSSIONS

Buddy System in school can have numerous benefits such as promoting an inclusive environment for all, a better acceptance of differences, promoting better self-control, expansion of communicative interaction with peers, decrease in behavioral problems and even personal maturation or growth in career aspirations. These will benefit the buddies, the buddy learner, the school and the parents as well.