New textbooks
Students read and study from new textboks purchased from generous donations sent to the elementary school located
about 80 miles southwest of Davao City on the island of Mindanao.
Students at RBA Sabulao Memorial Elementary School take classes in English, science, math, social studies, music, art, and home economics. At the beginning of the 2008 school year, there were just four teachers, but now the staff has grown to seven teachers and an enrollment of more than 280 students in grades one through six.
RBA is a public school funded in part by the Department of Education in the
Philippines. The curriculum and text books are approved by the Department of Education.
Students go through a long day, starting at 7:30 a.m. and ending around 4:30 p.m. About 99% of the students walk to school and for some it's as far as 5 kilometers, according to Principal Joselito Maslog.
When Maslog received the first donation for new texbooks, he was so disappointed that $200 only purchased about 28 books at about $7 each. It obviously was not enough money to buy books for all the students. Maslog, however, did not give up and went out and had paper copies made from the new books so that students would have lessons to study.
Education is the key for these youngsters to have a better life.
Most of the students are idigenous and their families currently lack a steady income to provide their children with basic supplies such as pencils, paper and backpacks. In 2009, the Parent Teachers Committee organized projects to build
a chicken farm and fish pond which will soon make the families financially independent and also feed the students. Right now, your continued support is still necessary.
In June of 2009, thanks to a donation by the Auburn Rotary Club, a classroom
for preschoolers was built. Youngsters learn to count, the months of the year
and other skills that will help them when they enter grade one.
Not all students have textbooks
like those above.
English, science, math and social
studies are some of the subjects.
Preschoolers are taught basic skills now in a room built in 2009.
