DSWD, DepEd to build classrooms for IPs in Region 12
• 02:35 AM Wed Mar 23, 2016
2,010
By:
Hilbert T. Estacion, DSWD-12/contributor
Gemma Rivera, DSWD-12 assistant regional director announces the DSWD-DepEd partnership for IP schools in Region 12. (DSWD-12)
Koronadal
CITY - Groups of indigenous peoples in the far flung villages of Region 12 are
set to benefit from the new partnership between the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Department of Education (DepEd).
A total of
135 classrooms are now eyed to be constructed as part of the support to the
establishment of new public schools for the indigenous peoples in Mindanao.
Gemma N.
Rivera, DSWD-12 assistant regional director said that agencies are now working together
through technical sessions, meetings and other pre-construction activities to
fast tract the project implementation.
Rivera added
that the project will be under the auspices of one of the agencies flagship
poverty-reduction programs, Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-A Comprehensive and
Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), especially during the
construction phase.
The
classrooms will be constructed in the provinces of Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat,
South Cotabato and North Cotabato and, cities of Koronadal, Tacurong, and
General Santos, Rivera said.
Dr. Arturo B.
Bayocot, DepEd regional director said that these are classrooms to be
constructed in schools that are yet to be established in the IP communities,
where villagers take liberty in choosing the name, design, type and other
aspects in the classroom construction.
This is a
unique project because it has to get the wisdom of the elders and community as
a whole. We value the touch of the tribe in classroom construction,” Bayocot
said.
Bayocot recognized the
contribution of DSWD, through Kalahi-CIDSS, in the construction of classrooms
in the region that paved the way for the better quality of service delivery to
school children and communities as whole.
Since 2003, Kalahi-CIDSS has completed 179
school building projects in Region-12, amounting to Php263. 92 million funded
by the World Bank, Australia’s Department Foreign Affairs and Trade and other
local and international agencies. (Hilbert T. Estacion, regional social
marketing officer, Kalahi-CIDSS)