Filipino students have finally gone back to school in the last few months of 2022 after two years of forced home study! The Philippines is one of the countries that have kept schools closed the longest. Children and youth paid a high price for this pandemic, not just with the risk to their health and that of their families and economic impoverishment, but above all their intellectual, cultural and social impoverishment, as well as the psychological damage that these two long years brought to many of them. It is not uncommon to find in the letters to their sponsors’ such expressions as “I feel like I lost a year of my life 
“, “I couldn’t do anything to develop myself and grow”, “I fell into depression”, “I don’t know what will my future be any more”, “It was difficult to find a balance, especially for my studies; I couldn’t get used to studying ‘online’”, “For so many months I had no one to tell my problems to; at one point everything became so heavy that I wanted to give up”.
Bukas Palad staff tries to be a “journey companion” to these youth and their families, especially during these difficult times. We do it through human and spiritual formation offered to our students to accompany them on their adventurous journey of growth and to help them face the storms of life.
An integral human formation. This program occurs once a month, with the scholars divided into age groups. 
The activities aim to develop the person in all its dimensions, from the internal to the external: relationship with oneself, managing one’s emotions, free will, the ability to discern and decide, time management, etc. Another component is the development of social skills: the ability to build positive relationships based on welcoming the other as a gift for the person, the courage to forgive; in short, to learn the “art of loving”. In a path that continues over the years, this holistic formation extends to the relationship with family, community, and society where they live in an ecosystem where the moral criteria of decision and action are based on respect for the human person, the promotion of the common good, active participation, and care for the environment.
Underlying this whole journey is the spiritual component: to develop openness to the transcendent dimension and to the gift of faith – the discovery of being unique and loved by our Heavenly Father. Another important 
aspect is the “Word of Life” – a daily effort to put into practice a sentence of the Gospel and share personal experiences with others. This practice gradually helps to replace the purely human way of thinking and makes room for the Christian way of thinking and acting in everyday life. Sharing your own experiences and listening to those of others allows you to learn from each other, and to be an inspiration to improve and not give up. The highest aim of all Bukas Palad formations is to elevate the person, develop their potential and make them discover new and wider horizons. We firmly believe that the key to getting out of poverty lies precisely in this path of personal development while offering these helpful materials as almost an “excuse” to accompany them in their journey of personal growth.
Last April- May 2022, a specific formation program for elementary students was conducted with a group of psychology students from the University of the Philippines. The program aimed at making children capable of recognizing and expressing their emotions and thoughts by filling in a diary, and then sharing them in small groups. This topic was also discussed with their parents. Another 
theme that was addressed was the addiction to online games, a habit into which even the youngest children can fall; an attempt has been made to increase awareness of this danger, both on the side of the parents and children, and to provide a guide on how to avoid it.
With Senior High School and college students, the topics addressed in recent months were, among others: “Education for responsible voting”, “Dare to Care: people, planet, ecological conversion”, “Who I am and who do I want to be?”. Face-to-face meetings resumed with the loosening of Covid-19 protocols for social distancing; everyone could see the joy and satisfaction of being together again in a lively and profound face-to-face exchange, which had been desired for so long! In the life experiences shared, one could feel how many battles and difficulties everyone had to face in these past two years of the pandemic, and especially the comfort found in being together and listening to others.
