Mindanao PTAs partner with USAID to implement 1,000 matching grants

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines — Educators and parent-teacher association (PTA) representatives from across Mindanao congregated in this city to mark the completion of over a thousand education matching grants provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to 900 schools, through its partnership project with PTAs in the region.

USAID Deputy Mission Director Reed Aeschliman, who spoke at the completion ceremony, praised the education and PTA officials, saying that they “recognize that ensuring quality education for the children of Mindanao is not solely the responsibility of the national government, and that they, too, can make an important difference.”

Through its Education Matching Grant Project (EMGP), USAID matches, peso for peso, the funds raised by Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) to undertake education improvement projects in partner schools.

These projects include, among others, the establishment and improvement of mini-libraries, science and computer laboratories, home economics rooms, and multi-media centers.

At the ceremony, representatives of beneficiary schools thanked the US Government and the American people for their continuing commitment to help prepare Mindanao’s future workforce through partnerships with schools.

In response, Deputy Director Aeschliman highlighted the strong collaboration between the school administrators, parents and teachers, and between the governments of the Philippines and the United States, which enabled the matching grant project to succeed.

“Today, we celebrate the effectiveness of this continuing partnership, the success of which has been dramatic,” Aeschliman said.

Valued at more than a million dollars, the matching grants have benefited over 600,000 students in elementary and secondary schools in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and other conflict-affected areas across the island-region.

“Parents and teachers have contributed [their] hard-earned money, and raised additional funds because they have committed themselves to improving the quality of education available to their children,” Aeschliman said.