“What do we teach our children?” This is a common question when it comes to primary education.
It is also an important question because many believe that the earliest form of education is that which will shape and guide children as they grow—the foundation of learning. The most important lessons like love for God and country, core values, and basic science and math generally comprise a student’s early years.
With a curriculum in a place, in the Philippines, it is a sad fact, however, that the next question often asked is, “Where do we teach our children?” Corruption in government sadly results in the lack of funds to give every Filipino child the right to education.
Thankfully, golden hearts in the private sector are there to provide the answers to the question. One such organization is Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines Inc., which has long helped out to provide students with a school roof over their heads.
Solutions sought
The shortage of classrooms in the Philippines is shockingly in the hundreds of thousands. With such a backlog, countless children who are determined to study often resort to walking unimaginable lengths, just to reach the “nearest” public school.
Once there, yet another problem arises. Not only are the schools remote, but the classrooms are old and dilapidated, or too small for the huge number of students, making them unfit for learning.
To address the endless problems, Coca-Cola Foundation established a corporate social responsibility arm in1998 called the Little Red School House program, under its Live Positively campaign. Since then, they have been helping elementary schools in far flung areas all around the country to build school houses and rehabilitate classrooms in the worst conditions.
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| Little Red School Houses: The red roof shines brightly |
Coca-Cola Foundation constructs Little Red School Houses from the ground up. The red roof is the trademark of this benevolent endeavor. Every school house has three classrooms, complete with blackboards both in front and at the back to serve a multi-grade setting. In other words, each classroom can accommodate two consecutive levels at the same time—Grades I and II, Grades III and IV, and Grades V and VI.
Over the years, more than 80 schoolhouses have been built by Coca Cola Foundation in the Philippines and over P100 million has been allocated for the campaign.
Claveria’s Little Red School House
One remote and fortunate barangay, which the Coca-Cola Foundation has helped is Sitio Bulahan in Claveria, Misamis Oriental. When the foundation first visited the area, they found a wooden public elementary school, which was built in 1970s. Too worn down to serve as a place of learning for the students, Coca Cola went straight to work and built the community a brand new school in 2008.
Organizing a media trip in April, the foundation showed just how the quality of education had changed in Bulahan after the Little Red School House was erected.
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| Bulahan Elementary School's principal |
Principal Prescila Balaba, who also teaches Grades V and VI, recalled that the original two-classroom school house of Bulahan had been used by the community for a total of 35 years. Because they were made of wood, the old structure decayed rapidly and was unsafe for the children who continued to study there.
When she heard about Coca-Cola’s search for beneficiaries of the Little Red School Houses, she went as far as telling a few white lies to convince the foundation that Bulahan is an ideal choice.
“I told the district supervisor facilitating the search that Bulahan Elementary School is not too far from the town proper even though it is!” she laughed. “I had to do it because they really needed to see the dilapidated condition of the classrooms we were using.”
True enough, after seeing the classrooms, Bulahan Elementary School was singled out in Claveria, and construction began in November 25, 2008.
Caring for the classrooms
The advocacy also stirred a change in the whole community of Bulahan. First, the number of enrollments in Bulahan Elementary School has seen a significant rise in the last three years since the Red School House was built.
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| Claveria's district supervisor for education |
Panfilo Picot, public schools district supervisor for Claveria, added, “We also worked on improving the quality of education [with the Little Red School House]. The building itself is really conducive to learning [that is why] even the student’s learning abilities got better too.”
Moreover, the community also saw the value of caring for the classrooms, enticing parents themselves to see that the school house is always clean and well-maintained.
Balaba said that while the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) has no money for the upkeep of the school, they willingly give their services instead. They even built a garden in the school’s backyard and planted crops like camote and onions. The earnings they make from selling their harvest are automatically turned over for building maintenance. They have also been able to build a cemented pathway for the children, and are almost done with the construction of a small stage for school presentations.
Encouraging new partnerships
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| The Bulahan Elementary School still needs more of your support |
Seeing the vast improvement of Buluhan Elementary School, other nongovernment organizations were encouraged to follow suit. The Rotary Club of Claveria donated books to organize a small library small library. Other donations also came in from new partners.
Principal Balaba’s next goal is to have computers in the school, in order to arm their students with the requirements of the outside world. She knows someday it will happen, just as the Coca Cola Foundation made the dream of new classrooms come true.
*First published for The Manila Times. Photos by Jonathan Neri and Bon Roa.
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