MANILA, Philippines — The United States government has donated reading materials worth P27 million to the Department of Education (DepEd) office in Bicol.
The US Agency for International Development handed over the 540,000 early grade reading materials, representing the first batch of materials that USAID is providing to DepEd this schoolyear as part of its Advancing Basic Education in the Philippines (ABC+) project.
USAID-Philippines acting deputy mission director Jennifer Crow and education director Thomas LeBlanc led the handover of the reading materials at the Sto. Domingo Central School and Salvacion Elementary School in Albay on Aug. 22.
“We are working with DepEd so that children who are returning to school have access to age- and context-appropriate learning resources,” LeBlanc said. “Our presence here today affirms USAID’s support and commitment to our shared vision of improving education outcomes for Filipino children.”
More than 1.2 million early grade reading materials will be distributed to around 7,000 public schools in Bicol, Western Visayas and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao under the ABC+ project, bringing the total amount of aid to P63 million.
The reading materials, which include picture books, storybooks and leveled readers, are written in mother tongue languages, English and Filipino to address gaps in reading practices of young learners and help students from kindergarten to Grade 3 develop foundational reading skills.
The materials were developed in collaboration with DepEd to ensure quality and relevance to Filipino early grade learners.
More than 11 million copies of reading materials have been distributed to kindergarten to grade 3 students in the three regions under the ABC+ project in the past two years.