MANILA, Philippines — We have heard of many sad stories about the current plight of our public education system, where out of 10 students, only four manage to finish high school and only two are able to finish a four-year college degree.

It is no wonder then that our country continues to lag behind in terms of economic development compared to our other Southeast Asian neighbors who have invested heavily in uplifting the quality of their basic education system.

Yet, as the slogan of The Manila Bulletin says, there is also good news coming out in our public schools as more and more private institutions have committed to work together with the Department of Education (DepEd) in its effort to help improve access and quality of education for every Filipino child.

AHON continues to bring books to public schools
Last March 1, the Acts of Hope for the Nation (AHON) Foundation, formally opened its 41st adopted library at Project 6 Elementary School in Quezon City. This library will benefit more than 4,000 students in this school. AHON Foundation is the corporate foundation of Filway Marketing Inc., the exclusive Philippine distributor of Time Life books. The foundation has already adopted other public elementary school libraries in Marikina City, Pampanga, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, La Union and Pangasinan.

Continuing in its endeavor to improve the quality of our basic education system through the enhancement of reading skills and literacy rate of public school children, AHON Foundation chose Project 6
elementary school to help in upgrading and refurbishing its school library.

As part of his inspirational message to the students, Hector Tagaysay, chairman of AHON Foundation, said: “Ang mensahe ko lang sa mga bata, gamitin niyo ng maigi ang mga libro. Hindi baleng
maluma, papalitan na lang natin. Everyday, magbasa kayo. Teachers, let us encourage the children to read. Dahil sa library magkakadream ang mga bata. And someday, magiging successful sila sa buhay.”

Teachers of the school assured AHON Foundation that they will make sure that the library will be used by the students by regularly holding their classes inside the library so students can easily make use of the brand new books. More importantly, the teachers said that they will benefit from the books as they can also use them to upgrade their lesson plans.

AHON Foundation accepts donations in kind and in cash, it is also constantly looking for volunteers and interns. For information, call 434-1458 and check out AHON Foundation, on Facebook.

Pathway's participants make it to Ateneo and UP
Participants of Ateneo de Manila University’s Pathways to Higher Education who come from public high schools in Marikina and Quezon City continued their remarkable showing in the college entrance exams of the University of the Philippines and the Ateneo de Manila University.

Thirty one Pathways participants passed the UPCAT, while 21 were also able to hurdle the ACET. Out of the 21 who made it to Ateneo de Manila, 11 were also able to qualify for scholarships.

Pathways to Higher Education is an innovative education reform program launched by the Ateneo with Synergeia Foundation and the Ford Foundation. It aims to help academically-gifted but financially-disadvantaged students gain access to quality higher education.

Pathways also helps parents become active partners in helping their children to perform better in school. Since it started in 2002, Pathways has already helped more than 100 students finish college, many of are now helping their families move out of poverty.

Pathways relies heavily on the spirit of volunteerism that is seen through its Alay Ni Ignacio (ANI) program volunteers who are students of Ateneo.

ANI was named as one of the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations of the Philippines (TAYO) given by the National Youth Commission and the Office of Senator Francis Pangilinan. ANI volunteers provide tutorial classes in English, Math and Science to enable participants to prepare themselves for college entrance exams.

For those who would like to support Pathways to Higher Education, call (02) 426-6001 local 4048.