CEBU, Philippines – It will be a new year with new classroom for the students of Catmon Integrated School (CIS) in Catmon, Cebu.
Cebu provincial government and Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. turned over last week the newly-constructed three-storey school building to CIS.
“This building is a memorial of love for our children. It will serve as a symbol of how we valued education, so we bequeathed them this gift,” said Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III, who spearheaded the turnover ceremony.
Knowledge is one thing that money can’t buy once an individual obtains it, Davide added, as he encouraged students to pour in their best efforts to complete their studies.
The building houses nine classrooms and is part of the high school building project of the Capitol and RAFI. The Capitol gave P4.3 million as its counterpart while RAFI contributed more than P8 million.
Before, students had to hold classes in their old and camped school building.
Catmon is one of the 10 LGU recipients of new school buildings from RAFI and Capitol.
Other town recipients include San Fernando, Compostela, Carmen, Daanbantayan, Barili, Sogod, San Remigio, Sta. Fe and Madridejos.
According to RAFI’s data from the Department of Education, Cebu has about 270,000 high school students with around 4,500 existing classrooms.
At least a thousand more classrooms are needed to completely accommodate all current high school students.
The turnover ceremony was also attended by Catmon Mayor Dan Jusay and RAFI education development unit executive director Ernesto Alix.
Davide, RAFI, DepEd and mayors of the recipient towns signed the memorandum of agreement for the implementation of the school building project February last year. — Michael Vencynth H. Braga/NSA (FREEMAN)