Except for the near accidents we’ve had with pedestrians (Vic was driving), we had a relatively uneventful 3-hour ride to the Philsaga Mining site in Rosario, Agusan del Sur. With the country roads surprisingly wide and well paved, we managed to average a 100kph over the idyllic country side.
Upon reaching the site, we were greeted by Dr. Victor Salvado, the President of Mindanao Philsaga Foundation. Once we were all settled in their conference room, he proceeded to tell us more about the Adopt-a-School Program.
We were to “adopt” Agpan Elementary School, one of the most under-equipped schools in the area. Agusan del Sur is one of the 20 poorest regions in the country, and is experiencing some insurgency problems.
We then found out that to reach Agpan Elementary School, one has to travel around 2 hours on an improvised motorcycle (habal-habal” as the locals call it) through rough, unpaved and muddy roads.
Dr. Salvado continued, “Unfortunately, Agpan Elementary School is practicing a multi-grade system, where one teacher is handling multiple grade levels. Let’s take Grades 1 and 2 for example. The school just has 1 teacher for both these grade levels. To add to their concerns, both Grades are taught in 1 classroom due to the lack of classrooms.”
“With the help of the Adopt-a-School program, we’ll immediately spend on constructing an additional classroom. More importantly, we could improve to a mono-grade system. We’ll add one teacher so that each Grade level would have 1 teacher to guide and monitor their progress. But with the limited funds, we’ll focus on Grades 1 and 2.”
“So why do we need to focus on Grades 1 and 2? Simply because both these grade levels form the educational foundation. Studies show that no matter how good the teachers are in the later year levels, such as Grade 5 up to high school, the students’ overall performance all depends on how they were taught in Grades 1 and 2.”
Simply put, laying down the proper foundation is the key. It’s like constructing a building. If you’re constructing the building on a very poor foundation, it won’t matter even if you use the most expensive and best materials and designs for the building itself.
After meeting the president of Philsaga Mining, we set off to Bunawan, one of the bigger towns in the region, to sign the Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Education to formalize the deal.
- Hector Melencio, CT Marketing Specialist
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