Workbooks from UnionBank

ALABEL, Sarangani (September 2, 2010) – UnionBank Learning System “As A Filipino” workbooks are piled up by soldiers from the 11th Mechanized Infantry inside the Sarangani Agricultural Company, Inc. warehouse Thursday, September 2. Ferried from Manila through a navy ship, the 17,220 student workbooks will provide 1:1 student-workbook ratio for Sarangani’s Grade II pupils. (Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

Workbooks for Sarangani school children

ALABEL, Sarangani (September 2, 2010) – Alcantara Foundation (AF) executive director Richlie Lyndon Magtulis (left) and administrative officer Sonny Riva examine the workbooks from the UnionBank Learning System that arrived at the Sarangani Agricultural Company, Inc. compound Thursday morning, September 2, for distribution. Ferried from Manila through a navy ship, the 17,220 student workbooks will provide 1:1 student-workbook ratio for Sarangani’s Grade II pupils. The UnionBank Learning System has been giving books to Sarangani children since 2008. (Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

MATH AND SCIENCE MAKE ME NERVOUS? NO WAY!

These students at Elisa P. Bernardo Memorial Elementary School in Tacurong City discover the beauty of mathematics and science in the pages of reference books acquired for their school library through a partnership between their parent-teacher association (PTA) and USAID’s Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program. Approximately 168,000 students from more than 228 schools in Region 12 alone have benefited from mini libraries, home economics centers, science laboratories and other education aids provided through their PTAs’ fundraising efforts. The PTA funds were matched peso-for-peso by the GEM Program through its Education Matching Grant Project (EMGP). GEM is being implemented under the oversight of the Mindanao Development Authority. GEM

Education for Sarangani highlanders

By Russtum G. Pelima ,MA Ed

MAASIM, Sarangani (July 15, 2010) – For tribal chieftain Pepito Lanon, having a nearby school where he could send his kids everyday is a blessing after long years of waiting.

Yet, the school built by Conal Holdings Corporation in their nearby village, Langaran, from their own, Tahakayo, is still five kilometers away along tapered roads of Amsipit hills.

Yesterday (July 14), the Department of Education in Sarangani headed by Schools Division Superintendent Deborah Adrales, Quality Education for Sarangani Today (QUEST), Conal Holdings, with Mahintana Foundation and Alcantara Foundation, opened two primary schools in Langaran and Lebe of barangay Amsipit.

Langaran is a Blaan village 18 kilometers away from the main road to Maasim. The school site, donated by Eyog Malo, is 3,000 feet above sea level and second to Maasim’s highest plateau, Datal Basak. Lebe is eight kilometers lower than Langaran.

Adrales told parents the importance of education especially for the future of their children. She said the Department of Education has been fielding more number of teachers for the remote barangays to complement the province’s campaign for education.

In partnership with QUEST, 250 more teachers under the Provincial School Board were sent to farthest schools by the DepEd.

QUEST is an education program of Sarangani under the Governor’s Office.

In his inaugural speech last month, Governor Migs Dominguez reiterated education as his priority program of governance.

“No child will be left behind,” Governor Dominguez said.

“We started planning to build a school here in October last year after seeing a number of children,” Fely Constantino, Conal Holdings’ community development officer, said.

Conal funded the P720,000 two-classroom building here and helped the community to open a primary school in Lebe by rehabilitating an old building of the Upland Development Program.

Langaran has 124 Grade I pupils now with two sections and 60 pupils in Grade I in Lebe. Village children from Lamsaging can now walk three kilometers to Langaran Primary School instead of ten kilometers to Kyumad Elementary School.

Langaran and Lebe primary schools are among the ten schools assisted and built by Conal Holdings in the highlands of Maasim as part of its corporate social responsibility.

“Not all of these communities are covered by our agro-forestry project as carbon sink areas for our 200-megawatt power producing plant in Kamanga,” Ed Cejar, project assurance head, said. “We are just happy that we extend some help for the community.”

Conal provides school supplies, technical and vocational trainings, medical and dental missions to schools, scholarship grants, and classroom buildings for its educational program.

As part of its program for health and sanitation, the company donated a P1.2-M water system to barangay Tinoto which the community longed for 70 years.

For the three QUEST volunteer teachers, teaching the village kids in Langaran and Lebe is a vocation. When others were hired at the schools in the lowland, theirs is a call.

Conal officials said a staff house will be built aside from the school building at the school ground for the teachers. (SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

School supplies from Conal Holdings

MAASIM, Sarangani (July 15, 2010) – Ed Cejar of Conal Holdings Corporation leads the distribution of school supplies during the opening of Langaran Primary School Wednesday, July 14. (Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)