PTCA helps unleash students' potential in Sulu island school
Sun.Star Zamboanga
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
HADJI PANGLIMA TAHIL, Sulu -- "Reading takes you anywhere" is painted in large fonts on the wall of a tiny school in this municipality.
Hadji Panglima Tahil consists of a small island cluster surrounded by the waters of the Sulu Sea, a long banca ride away from Jolo on the mainland.
Economically, it is isolated as well: Hadji Panglima Tahil has had the sad distinction of being identified as the poorest municipality in the country in a National Anti-Poverty Commission report published in 2000.
But on this sunny morning, the children of the Subah Elementary School are centered on a different world -- the world of scientific understanding and other types of knowledge found in books.
The teacher asks the students what an ecosystem is and small, eager hands shoot up. She calls on Sharisma Ajing, who stands up and answers crisply and precisely.
Sharisma used to be a withdrawn child, said Linda Tacata, the school principal. "I hardly remember her reciting in class. It was only in Grade 6 that she started to excel," Tacata recalls.
It was then that the Parent-Teacher Community Association (PTCA) provided the school with new books and reference materials, sewing machines for home economics classes, a personal computer with printer and other multimedia aids.
The PTCA purchased the assorted learning tools with the help of an educational matching grant provided by USAid's Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program.
Through its Education Awareness Support Effort (Ease) component, the GEM Program matches, peso-for-peso, the funds raised by PTCAs in conflict-affected areas of Mindanao to improve education services in their schools.
To date, the GEM Program has provided education matching grants for more than 600 schools -- 46 of them in Sulu -- the PTCAs of which have collectively raised approximately US$690,000 to establish mini libraries, science laboratories, multimedia centers and other learning aids for their children. The funds raised by the PTCAs have been matched by USAid's Ease program.
"Maganda ang mga larawan sa mga libro, magandang tingnan [the illustrations in the books are interesting to look at]," said Jaser Jalam, a Grade 5 student, turning the pages of a full-color science dictionary.
Previously, the students of Subah Elementary School only had a few black-and-white textbooks with which to learn about plants and animals and which they had to share. Now they can borrow attractive new books from the small library established by the PTCA and read after class hours.
The school's PTCA also provides fuel for the generator, which powers the computer which teachers use to run educational programs; that have fired Sharisma and the other students to learn more.
The determination shown by this and other PTCAs in remote corners of Mindanao in raising funds and applying for GEM grants on behalf of the children is all the more impressive when one realizes that many of these schools are in poor communities.
"With the help of these learning aids, our students not only know their basic lessons, but are able to learn something of the bigger world," said Tacata. "We are surrounded by water, but they can still get to know other places."
The GEM Program expects to provide approximately 860 more Ease educational matching grants over the next four years under the oversight of the Mindanao Economic Development Council. (Press Release)
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/zamboanga/ptca-helps-unleash-students-potential-sulu-island-school
