Kuya Center’s street educators, social workers and volunteers meet the children on the streets. With unending patience and dynamic creativity, they raise the children’s awareness about the risks of living in the streets and encourage them to come to Kuya Center. Lessons focus on Formation (values, catechetics, prayer), Literacy (reading and numbers skills), Attentiveness (listening, watching), Arts (singing, dance, music, drawing), Health and Hygiene, Personal Safety and Protective Behavior, Reproductive Health, Substance Abuse Prevention Education, Prevention of Online Sexual Exploitation of Children, Life Skills/ Life Goals and Child Rights.

The main thrust of the Center is to reconcile the child with his family.  When children choose to leave the streets and live at Kuya Center they must give up the practices of solvent sniffing, drug use, and acts of wantonness and vagrancy.  They are encouraged to willingly take an active part in the Center’s programs which are tailored as best as possible to suit their needs.  There is regular schooling for those of normal school age and attainment, and accelerated education classes (ALS) for older boys with low attainment levels. Literacy classes are held at Kuya itself for those whose current socialization habits and lack of attention span require a more intensive rehabilitation. During the Covid 19 pandemic, the children are engaged in online schooling and complete educational modules supervised by Kuya Center’s teacher.  When face-to-face classes are possible, the boys are required to travel to school each day, fostering, too, their growth in responsibility and trust.

This program is intended for low-income families whose children would otherwise be unable to afford even public schooling.  In particular, children who live in squatter/slum areas and are usually engaged in child labor have counselling and educational assistance given to them and their families to ensure they can continue with their schooling. This enables them to cease child labor activities, live with their families and not return to the streets.  This has been a highly effective and successful program.  Without Kuya’s support, these children would regress and return to the streets.  The family’s need for additional income and inability to purchase the basics needed for education would normally stymie any educational ambition for them.  Keeping the family together and going to school is seen as the best means of reducing the number of new children forced to live at risk on the streets.

Kuya Center also provides live-in or short-term immersion experiences for many local and overseas visitors, both lay and religious, Christian and non-Christian. Many Religious communities and schools send their young members as part of their formation for a deeper social awareness. Integrating Gospel values into the realities of life is a key learning experience in formation.

However, since the pandemic started this program was suspended in response to COVID-19 pandemic.