Cotabato City, SK schools get free books from TAF
COTABATO CITY – Fifty-nine public elementary schools – 28 in
Cotabato City and 31 in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao – have received book
donations form The Asia Foundation and Metro Bank Foundation Thursday, March 1.
The donation was part of the Books for Asia project intended
to help the educational material resource of areas which are in need of books.
Books were also donated to the Cotabato City library as well as
the SK municipal library.
In 2008, several schools in Cotabato City also received book
donations under the Books for Asia program.
This time, however, the books donated will follow the K-12
format in the United States, where the books originated from. The materials were
picked based on their appeal to children and focus on the K-12 subjects.
The Asia Foundation started the Books for Mindanao program in
2003 as part of the Books for Asia with focus on Mindanao and with support
from the United States Agency for International Development.
The program has helped bring educational materials to many areas
where this resource was scarce and hard to come across.
The programs helped address the scarcity of educational
resources in Mindanao, but the demand increased over time due to conflict being
apparent in the area. Despite this, the program continues to provide the
materials to develop the youth through the book donations and distribution. (Daverick
B. Lim/NDU-BAComm3)