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Private companies are pouring money into public
education as a way to improve the quality of education in the
country and improve their image as responsible corporate citizens.
Since January, several companies
have been helping the Department of Education by pitching into its
Adopt-a-School Program.
Since its launch in 2000, the
Adopt-a-School Program has received more than P2.4 billion in
contributions that have benefited about 22,000 public schools.
Companies can choose from any of
the six areas under the Adopt-a-School packages. They can help
develop reading skills; and provide computers, Internet labs,
educational TVs and teach English by radio. Others can provide
multi-grade classroom facilities and learning materials or help
students complete school through the department’s preschool
program, modified in-school, off-school approach, or feeding
program. They can also build more classrooms or train teachers
improve their skills.
Last March 1 Ronald McDonald
House Charities, the social responsibility arm of McDonald’s,
committed P16 million for the six-year expansion of its Bright Minds
Read program, which aims to reduce the number of nonreaders in the
elementary level and promote the habit of reading among students.
The reading program will be expanded to 14 regions in the country.
The pilot three-year program
began in 2002 and was implemented among Grade 1 students in 14
schools in Metro Manila. Post-test results showed a dramatic
increase in comprehension and teachers attest to a general
improvement in class participation, the department said.
Last February the department
signed an agreement with SM Prime Holdings and SM Foundation Inc.
for the construction of seven new schoolbuildings in Cagayan de Oro,
Pampanga and Quezon, and the renovation of a three-classroom
building in Bulacan worth P5.25 million.
In addition, the department also
signed an agreement with D&L Industries and Couples for Christ
Educational Foundation Inc. for the implementation of values
formation program called Empowerment and Mentoring Program for
Parents, Caregivers and Teachers (Impact).
Impact aims to instill proper
values in students by training adults who are primary care givers
and role models at home and in school. Values formation training
will be conducted by CFC-EFI for parents, nannies and teachers of
Bagumbayan Elementary School in Quezon City with funding from
D&L Industries.
The three-year program will cost
a total of P1.2 million to cover existing and future projects of
D&L with the school which include Lakbay Aral, a yearly study
tour of D&L facilities for sixth grade students; Handog Aklat, a
book drive held before the start of the school year for new and
preowned textbooks; and Pamaskong Handog, a Christmas outreach
activity held at Sito Sapang Bato, a depressed area where many
Bagumbayan students come from.
Call-center company Convergys and
DepEd agreed to launch the 2007 Oral Communications in English
Program, a free two-day intensive training program for 500 selected
high school and elementary teachers nationwide that will run up to
December this year. The program will use individualized oral
communications modules, which will be taught by Convergys’ oral
English instructors. Teachers who finish the training will conduct
their own workshop in oral communications in English for at least 10
of their co-teachers in their schools using the materials provided
to them during the training.
Part of the training includes the
use of Convergys’ exclusive computer training program, computer
laboratory with individual tracking and assessment, handouts and
lesson CDs.
Companies participating in the
program are entitled to tax incentives.
Under Bureau of Internal Revenue
regulations, a company can deduct the amount it donated to the
program from its gross income and is exempted from paying donor’s
tax.
For a foreign donation, the
value-added tax and excise tax on the importation of goods will be
shouldered by DepEd.
--Jonathan M. Hicap
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