Inspiring stories in public education

Posted by HARVEY S. KEH and HERBEL SANTIAGO on 13 July 2011 | 1 Comments

Tags: libraries, higher education, books, public schools

MANILA, Philippines — We have heard of many sad stories about the current plight of our public education system, where out of 10 students, only four manage to finish high school and only two are able to finish a four-year college degree.

It is no wonder then that our country continues to lag behind in terms of economic development compared to our other Southeast Asian neighbors who have invested heavily in uplifting the quality of their basic education system.

Yet, as the slogan of The Manila Bulletin says, there is also good news coming out in our public schools as more and more private institutions have committed to work together with the Department of Education (DepEd) in its effort to help improve access and quality of education for every Filipino child.

AHON continues to bring books to public schools

Last March 1, the Acts of Hope for the Nation (AHON) Foundation, formally opened its 41st adopted library at Project 6 Elementary School in Quezon City. This library will benefit more than 4,000 students in this school. AHON Foundation is the corporate foundation of Filway Marketing Inc., the exclusive Philippine distributor of Time Life books. The foundation has already adopted other public elementary school libraries in Marikina City, Pampanga, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, La Union and Pangasinan.

Continuing in its endeavor to improve the quality of our basic education system through the enhancement of reading skills and literacy rate of public school children, AHON Foundation chose Project 6
elementary school to help in upgrading and refurbishing its school library.

As part of his inspirational message to the students, Hector Tagaysay, chairman of AHON Foundation, said: “Ang mensahe ko lang sa mga bata, gamitin niyo ng maigi ang mga libro. Hindi baleng
maluma, papalitan na lang natin. Everyday, magbasa kayo. Teachers, let us encourage the children to read. Dahil sa library magkakadream ang mga bata. And someday, magiging successful sila sa buhay.”

Teachers of the school assured AHON Foundation that they will make sure that the library will be used by the students by regularly holding their classes inside the library so students can easily make use of the brand new books. More importantly, the teachers said that they will benefit from the books as they can also use them to upgrade their lesson plans.

AHON Foundation accepts donations in kind and in cash, it is also constantly looking for volunteers and interns. For information, call 545 5249 and 990 0928 and check out AHON Foundation, on Facebook.