Philam Life raises P2.15 M to build new classrooms

MANILA, Philippines - For every 100 students enrolled in Philippine public schools, about 66 of them will finish elementary education, but only 42 will finish high school. Yet 25 of the 42 will manage to move on to college.

The Department of Education (DepEd) also revealed that the nationwide classroom shortage would rise to 152,000, assuming that there is a current student-teacher ratio of 1:45 among the country’s public schools.

These are the numbers that pushed the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philam Life), through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm Philam Foundation, decided to start the Philam Paaralan program.

Philam Paaralan intends to help the country’s public education system by building classrooms in typhoon and calamity-stricken areas as well as underserved or unserved areas around the country.

In the past two years, Philam Paaralan built 14 classrooms in three provinces -- eight classrooms were built in four different towns in Isabela after it was hit by typhoon Juan; six classrooms were built in the cities of Cagayan De Oro and Iligan after they were greatly affected by typhoon Sendong.

As part of its 65th anniversary festivities, Philam Life donated P65 for every new policy sold from June to December 2012 to the Philam Paaralan program. The campaign generated P2.15 million, or good enough to build two additional Philam Paaralan classrooms.

This year, Philam plans to channel all its resources to build classroom buildings in the provinces of Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley and Agusan del Sur after typhoon Pablo ravaged the region.

All Philam Paaralan classrooms follow a blueprint standard that is above the minimum requirement for public school buildings, and are fully furnished with chalk boards, fans, armchairs for the students, as well as tables and chairs for the teachers. The classrooms are also equipped with restroom facilities.

In addition, Philam Paaralan will soon include water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facility and incorporate basic hygiene activities such as hand washing, oral care and de-worming in their curriculum to help students imbibe the importance of hygiene and sanitation.