AUSTRALIAN Ambassador Rod Smith (above) reads to students during the Read-A-Thon program in Caloocan city.

MANILA, Philippines — More than 16,000 Filipino school chi ldren in 29 schools in one of the Philippines major cities, Caloocan, now have improved literacy and reading skills through Australian Government support.

The Australian government provided a grant of Php5 million (approximately A$125,000) to the Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation (SAS), a Philippine not-for-profit organization, to implement a 31-day reading program called “Read-A-Thon.”

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) recently joined over 16,000 Grade 4 students in Caloocan City in celebrating the successful end of their Read-A-Thon. Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Rod Smith and Department of Education Undersecretary for Programs and Projects Dr. Yolly Quijano attended the program’s culminating activity. The activity showcased the accomplishments of the students.

Several booths displayed the learning materials used for the duration of the reading program and the students’ art works showing what they have learned from their readings. Select students from 29 participating schools paraded in colorful costumes depicting their favorite characters from the story books.

The highlight of the activity is a story telling by Ambassador Smith. Surrounded by eager school children, he narrated the story of “The Monkey and the Turtle”, a known fable written by the Philippine national hero, Jose Rizal. The fable teaches young children the value of friendship.

In his message, Amb. Smith emphasized that education is the flagship of the Australian assistance program to the Philippines and that support to basic education is estimated to reach Php2 billion (A$50 million) in 2011-2012.

This is an indication of the importance Australia places on education and the commitment of the Australian Government to assist the Philippine Department of Education improve the learning outcomes of Filipino school children. Ambassador Smith led the hand-over of mobile reading cart to each beneficiary school.

Marked improvement

Teachers and students have given positive feedback on the program. Youra Bragado of Bagong Silang Elementary School said that she saw a lot of changes in her students.

“The love and habit of reading was instilled in them because even if the Read-A-Thon is over, they still continue reading the books that they were not able to read during the program implementation.”

Judith Salonga, a teacher at Pagasa Elementary School, observed her students are very excited to read the donated books every morning, when they arrive for class. They constantly share what they read with their classmates.

John Paul Pagmanoa, a student at Pag-asa Elementary School, said, “Masaya ang Read-A-Thon kasi madami kaming nabasang mga kwento at magaganda ang mga drawing. Ginagaya nga namin e. (The Read-A-Thon was fun because we were able to read many stories and the illustrations were great. We even try to copy the drawings).”

Mark Jhon Tamayo, also a student enrolled at Tala Elementary School shared that he was always excited for reading time because aside from the different stories, there were many games and activities afterwards. He said that he and his classmates enjoyed the “Dress the Character”, role playing and drawing the different characters in the stories.

Australian assistance also helped purchase 50-60 best children’s story books written by Filipino authors and trained public school teachers to enhance their teaching skills and deepen their love of reading.

It is expected that with the new techniques and methodologies, the trained teachers will not only promote reading as a habit among school children but can also use the techniques and methodologies to effectively teach other subjects such as English, Math, Science and Social Studies.