Keeping kids in school
Keeping kids in school
Updated 00:44am (Mla time) Nov 10, 2004
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the November 10, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
TO BE launched this Friday is a small book, entitled "Tulong Aral ng Petron: A Corporation's Response to Fight Poverty," a "casebook," that details the concept behind "Tulong Aral" the program, and its accomplishments since its launching.
Prepared by Petron Foundation (and written by Asuncion Sebastian), the book, in the words of Petron chair and CEO Nicasio Alcantara, was planned as a means to "share our experiences so that others may benefit from it in terms of program development, resource mobilization and management, and institution building."
"Tulong Aral," says Marilou Erni, executive director of Petron Foundation, is precisely that, a program that "helps" put children through school. "The DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development] estimates that in Metro Manila alone, there are 516,000 children at the elementary level who do not or cannot go to school," Erni cites. The reason is that even as public education at the elementary and high school level is supposed to be free, there are other costs involved with going to school, such as uniforms, school supplies and even meals. With a goal of assisting 1,000 children each year, "Tulong Aral" helps ensure that children at risk of dropping out are able to continue their education by granting them allowances for meals, uniforms (including shoes and socks), school bags and supplies.
As recounted in the book, Alcantara challenged Erni in 2002 to "come up with a program that would support the country's education sector." Erni then consulted with the DSWD, particularly Metro Manila regional director Alice Bala, who had the right answer for Erni's goal of establishing "a sustainable development program instead of a mere one-shot, dole-out activity." Bala's vision was a "continuum of assistance for marginalized children," what would eventually become a "scholarship program that would send the graduates of DSWD's daycare centers to public schools," and ensure they would remain in school.
* * *
ERNI has a wealth of heart-rending anecdotes from two years of "Tulong Aral," such as children going to school on rainy days with their "Tulong Aral" shoes wrapped in plastic, or of meeting a couple who work as “magbabakal” [scavengers] with seven children, only one of whom is able to go to school as a "Tulong Aral" scholar.
Of the 930 "Tulong Aral" students who finished Grade 1 on the program's first year, 120 were adjudged outstanding, with 20 of them awarded first honors. "Imagine, without 'Tulong Aral,' none of these children would have been able to go to school," says Erni.
What pleases Erni most, though, is how Petron, as a corporation and institution, has fully embraced "Tulong Aral." At least 80 percent of Petron officers and employees, she notes, have donated their time, talents and resources (mostly through pledges of salary deductions) to "Tulong Aral." "The pledges range from an hour's wage to P100,000," says Erni, who times the fund-raising drives twice a year, in June and December, to cash in on the "feel-good" vibes that come with bonuses.
Just recently, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the DSWD gave away bags of rice to public school students as an "incentive" to their parents to keep them in school. "Tulong Aral" operates along the same line, but counts on the willingness of the private sector to join in a cause most everybody says needs urgent attention.
* * *
MARYKNOLL sisters serving in 11 Asian countries met in Tagaytay City, outside Manila, recently to discuss their work and missions, especially in the light of globalization and the increasing problems of poverty and violence around the world.
Aside from sisters working in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Japan, Korea, Nepal, the Philippines, Taiwan and the Maryknoll Contemplative Community, participants also included members of the Maryknoll Sisters Congregational Leadership Team: Sisters Suzanne Moore, president, Connie Krautkremer and Jeanne Rancourt; Sister-representatives from the Maryknoll Sisters Middle and Central America World Section, Africa World Section and the Central Pacific World Section as well as lay representatives from the Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful and Maryknoll Affiliates.
A profile of participants showed that among the 70 participants who were born in nine different countries, 67 ethnic groups were represented, speaking and understanding 32 languages. Members of the group had given a total of 2,327 years of service in 25 different countries.
* * *
EXPLORING the theme "An Integral Vision for Viewing Reality: Application to Maryknoll Sisters Mission in Asia and Multicultural Living," the conference featured Dr. Sixto K. Roxas as its main speaker.
Sessions highlighted the urgency of re-examining "vision and mission" in terms of the current realities of globally increasing poverty, destruction of indigenous and local communities and ecological systems, and world power struggles for control of resources and economies. As if to illustrate this reality, exhibits which depicted positive and negative effects of globalization on the countries and peoples of Asia among whom the sisters live and work had been prepared by each country group and were displayed throughout the meeting.
The speaker's parting message to the participants was a message of hope. Because of the widespread involvement and relationships long fostered by presence and service in so many countries throughout the world, and especially among the indigenous, women and the marginalized peoples, the role of Maryknoll and others can be as tiny but vital cells which, like yeast, interact in ways which expand into life-giving communities which truly support the hope and promise for which all long, and without which the planet will not be able to support the life of its inhabitants.
Updated 00:44am (Mla time) Nov 10, 2004
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the November 10, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
TO BE launched this Friday is a small book, entitled "Tulong Aral ng Petron: A Corporation's Response to Fight Poverty," a "casebook," that details the concept behind "Tulong Aral" the program, and its accomplishments since its launching.
Prepared by Petron Foundation (and written by Asuncion Sebastian), the book, in the words of Petron chair and CEO Nicasio Alcantara, was planned as a means to "share our experiences so that others may benefit from it in terms of program development, resource mobilization and management, and institution building."
"Tulong Aral," says Marilou Erni, executive director of Petron Foundation, is precisely that, a program that "helps" put children through school. "The DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development] estimates that in Metro Manila alone, there are 516,000 children at the elementary level who do not or cannot go to school," Erni cites. The reason is that even as public education at the elementary and high school level is supposed to be free, there are other costs involved with going to school, such as uniforms, school supplies and even meals. With a goal of assisting 1,000 children each year, "Tulong Aral" helps ensure that children at risk of dropping out are able to continue their education by granting them allowances for meals, uniforms (including shoes and socks), school bags and supplies.
As recounted in the book, Alcantara challenged Erni in 2002 to "come up with a program that would support the country's education sector." Erni then consulted with the DSWD, particularly Metro Manila regional director Alice Bala, who had the right answer for Erni's goal of establishing "a sustainable development program instead of a mere one-shot, dole-out activity." Bala's vision was a "continuum of assistance for marginalized children," what would eventually become a "scholarship program that would send the graduates of DSWD's daycare centers to public schools," and ensure they would remain in school.
* * *
ERNI has a wealth of heart-rending anecdotes from two years of "Tulong Aral," such as children going to school on rainy days with their "Tulong Aral" shoes wrapped in plastic, or of meeting a couple who work as “magbabakal” [scavengers] with seven children, only one of whom is able to go to school as a "Tulong Aral" scholar.
Of the 930 "Tulong Aral" students who finished Grade 1 on the program's first year, 120 were adjudged outstanding, with 20 of them awarded first honors. "Imagine, without 'Tulong Aral,' none of these children would have been able to go to school," says Erni.
What pleases Erni most, though, is how Petron, as a corporation and institution, has fully embraced "Tulong Aral." At least 80 percent of Petron officers and employees, she notes, have donated their time, talents and resources (mostly through pledges of salary deductions) to "Tulong Aral." "The pledges range from an hour's wage to P100,000," says Erni, who times the fund-raising drives twice a year, in June and December, to cash in on the "feel-good" vibes that come with bonuses.
Just recently, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the DSWD gave away bags of rice to public school students as an "incentive" to their parents to keep them in school. "Tulong Aral" operates along the same line, but counts on the willingness of the private sector to join in a cause most everybody says needs urgent attention.
* * *
MARYKNOLL sisters serving in 11 Asian countries met in Tagaytay City, outside Manila, recently to discuss their work and missions, especially in the light of globalization and the increasing problems of poverty and violence around the world.
Aside from sisters working in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Japan, Korea, Nepal, the Philippines, Taiwan and the Maryknoll Contemplative Community, participants also included members of the Maryknoll Sisters Congregational Leadership Team: Sisters Suzanne Moore, president, Connie Krautkremer and Jeanne Rancourt; Sister-representatives from the Maryknoll Sisters Middle and Central America World Section, Africa World Section and the Central Pacific World Section as well as lay representatives from the Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful and Maryknoll Affiliates.
A profile of participants showed that among the 70 participants who were born in nine different countries, 67 ethnic groups were represented, speaking and understanding 32 languages. Members of the group had given a total of 2,327 years of service in 25 different countries.
* * *
EXPLORING the theme "An Integral Vision for Viewing Reality: Application to Maryknoll Sisters Mission in Asia and Multicultural Living," the conference featured Dr. Sixto K. Roxas as its main speaker.
Sessions highlighted the urgency of re-examining "vision and mission" in terms of the current realities of globally increasing poverty, destruction of indigenous and local communities and ecological systems, and world power struggles for control of resources and economies. As if to illustrate this reality, exhibits which depicted positive and negative effects of globalization on the countries and peoples of Asia among whom the sisters live and work had been prepared by each country group and were displayed throughout the meeting.
The speaker's parting message to the participants was a message of hope. Because of the widespread involvement and relationships long fostered by presence and service in so many countries throughout the world, and especially among the indigenous, women and the marginalized peoples, the role of Maryknoll and others can be as tiny but vital cells which, like yeast, interact in ways which expand into life-giving communities which truly support the hope and promise for which all long, and without which the planet will not be able to support the life of its inhabitants.
posted by Dante at 12:44 AM
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