April 3, 2009
U.S. Government and the National Book Store Foundation Collaborate
To Improve Education in 6,000 Mindanao Classrooms
U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney and National Book Store Founder Socorro Ramos signed a commitment today sealing their pledge to provide more learning opportunities for school children in Mindanao at the SM Mall of Asia. Undersecretary Vilma Labrador from the Philippine Department of Education also participated in the event.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), through its Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (EQuALLS2) Project, teamed up with the National Book Store Foundation to provide books in an effort to increase students’ interest in reading, and enhance the learning and teaching of English and other subjects taught in English.
Under this commitment, USAID will purchase 12,000 dictionaries and 12,000 thesauruses valued at PhP8.4 million (US$375,000) for distribution to 6,000 classrooms in Mindanao over two years. For every dictionary and thesaurus bought, the National Book Store Foundation will donate the same number of books, giving this collaboration a total value of PhP16.8 million (US$750,000). The books will be distributed early in the 2009 school year.
The National Book Store Foundation is the official socio-civic arm of National Book Store Inc., the country’s largest retailer of books and school supplies. Some of the Foundation’s initiatives include setting up mobile libraries, such as the Buklat Aklat Mobile Library Project, and donating books to public schools across the Philippines.
The EQuALLS2 Project is being implemented in partnership with the Philippine Department of Education and the Department of Education of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). It offers a core set of interventions aimed at increasing access to quality education for elementary school children, and provides relevant learning and livelihood skills training for out-of-school youth.
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