Nurturing Young Minds Through Agriculture: iRead 2025’s Journey with Young Learners of Los Baños 

Turning the page of a book may seem like an ordinary act, but for countless Filipino children, it remains a difficult task, symbolizing a dream beyond reach. Planting new seeds for a better tomorrow is just like learning to read, further carving a path towards a brighter future. Reading is a fundamental and foundational skill—a key to many opportunities today and beyond. Yet, for many students in the Philippines, the road to reading, comprehension, and literature is still far from being smooth.

At the age when they should already be unlocking the world through words, there were still countless Filipino children who couldn’t start a story. Nine out of ten children in the Philippines at late primary age, until 10 years old, struggle to read and understand simple texts, especially those in English. This number echoes the nation’s growing learning poverty driven by inadequate funding, lack of resources, low-quality education, and affordability. And for a nation with many young and eager minds, this status costs much action.

iRead: Building Blocks of the Future

With this growing concern, the UPLB Development Communicators' Society (UPLB DCS) immensely stepped up in 2010 and launched iRead, a reading and literacy campaign. It aims to organize reading sessions and various learning activities to potentially improve the reading, literacy, and comprehension skills of the students.

iRead began its journey as a vision to help young students improve in the field of reading and comprehension through consistent, engaging, and compassionate learning. But when the world stood still in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the hum of the classrooms faded into silence and students were highly casted a long shadow over learning. But even though school gates were closed, iRead kept its doors open through “iRead @ Home”, a virtual reading session featuring video lessons and digital learning materials. This proves that even if the world may pause, a child's learning and curiosity will not. 

And when the world slowly reopened, face-to-face iRead sessions were revamped held every Monday for several weeks ensuring a fun and productive learning. “Nagkakaroon kami ng mini-orientation…mga 1 hour lang siya…kasi apart sa mga resident members ng DevComSoc ay kumukuha rin kami ng volunteers from outside org, sa university, at iba galing outside the university pa.”, Xymun Escasinas—iRead 2025 Co-Activity Head stated. 

iRead is more than just a reading campaign, it is a grassroots, volunteer-led movement. Extending out to nearby schools like Los Baños Elementary School and B.N. Calara Elementary School, iRead has become an avenue to engage students more in reading through the hands-on teaching of the volunteers. Beyond the classrooms, iRead fosters a culture of volunteerism and empathy from the end of the students, volunteers, and even the teachers. This dynamic has been a great pillar for the initiative, honing the students’ skills serving as an extension from the usual classroom-setup of learning.

Cultivating Reading and Literacy through Agriculture 

Over the years, iRead remains as an initiative that teaches children how to read. Before a new set of sessions begins every year, UPLB DCS makes sure to assess the learning needs of the students to effectively address it through collective efforts. In 2025, the organization pondered on a new challenge of having a theme that would be learned by the students hand-in-hand with reading. Taking a new path, partnering with Malinta Elementary School (MALES) in Brgy. Malinta, Los Baños, Laguna, iRead focused on having agriculture as the central theme for 2025. 

“Nagkaroon tayo ng focus topic dahil sa nakikita na need to address these kinds of problems, for example declining rate of Filipinos who want to pursue Agriculture. I think needed yung ganitong klaseng pagbibigay ng importansya o pagbibigay ng mismong right context ng

agriculture sa mga bata pa lang para in a sense ay nasasabuhay natin kung ano ang nagiging role ng agriculture sa ating buhay bilang mga Pilipino. Nakita namin na kapos din sila sa materyales o hindi nila nama-maximize yung potential nila na maituro nang maigi ang mga konseptong agrikultura.”, iRead 2025 Activity Head-Social Channel Jazmine Claire Olorvida emphasized. 

This resonates with the agricultural-based community of Malinta as agriculture is one of the significant sectors in the area having Laguna de Bay and farm lands around. Utilizing the power of both reading and agriculture through each session, the iRead team prepared various activities such as storytelling, role playing, practical application, and such tailored accordingly from the students’ learning needs. The team even created a short story book entitled, “Si Abet na Mahilig sa Pakbet” featuring the essence of eating vegetables and the right ways in planting. As they read about Abet, their love for vegetables and planting grew even more. 

At the same time, through the practical application set by the team in partnership with the Philippine Rice Research Institute-Los Baños (PhilRice), the students had the chance to be involved in agricultural practices like planting on the rice fields. Through this innovative theme, iRead opened the doors for the students to connect with reading and literacy through tangible experiences in the agricultural field. 

Beyond Agriculture 

iRead 2025 showcased agriculture in each lesson through demonstrating that effective literacy can be connecting reading to real life situations and that learning is beyond what we grasp inside a classroom. Students went from reading stories, assessing flashcards, and role playing about farming to practically going to farm fields to plant, connecting abstract literacy skills with real-life experiences. 

Ultimately, iRead remains true to its vision and mission. Advisers from MALES saw the campaign’s potential in aiding the students build a better future. Beyond agriculture, some themes were suggested such as water irrigation-related topics and information and communication technology (ICT) lessons to be the main highlights for the next few years to further widen the support given to the students in various aspects inside and outside the classroom. 

Even after the conduct of iRead sessions, the team continued to extend help and support to MALES in empowering reading programs. The team successfully handed over books from the UPLB DCS, PhilRice and the Komunida Initiative, a culture-based  group to further develop the interest of students in reading and agriculture. 

“Mahalaga siya kasi nagpo-provide siya ng additional activity, nagpo-provide siya ng strategy para mas matulungan pa ang mga bata na mas madevelop pa ang love and fun for reading… Mas nabuksan at napalalim pa ang kaalaman nila sa agrikultura. Parang hitting two birds with one stone.”, Ma’am Christine Sasuman-Grade 4 Danao Lake Adviser stated. 

iRead 2025 introduced students to new opportunities for learning through engaging with reading and agriculture in meaningful ways. As there would be more seeds to plant, more stories to tell, and more futures waiting to be written and heard. Standing with initiatives like iRead will continuously aim to empower generations of today and beyond. For every child who turns a page, a new chapter of hope begins–for themselves, their families, communities, and the country.