A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Imagine a child living on a mountain in a makeshift shack. She wakes every morning, without eating a proper meal, gets dressed and heads down the mountain to the local school which is 4 km from her home. She arrives at school in her immaculately clean uniform, sits at her desk in the back of the classroom, because she is too shy to sit in the front row. Exhaustion and hunger have squelched her thirst for knowledge. She falls asleep at her desk missing out on the new concept being taught in the class. She returns home. She does her chores. The sun has set. Now it is too late for her to do her homework, because there is no electricity and she doesn’t have any books anyway. Another school day gone, another waste of her mind!
How to raise the literacy and numeracy levels of children in our program, especially those from the indigenous communities?
Stairway believes proper nutrition and access to educational supplies is essential to the fulfillment of children’s right to an education.
Last July 17, members from Stairway’s Community Assistance Program distributed individual English/Math textbooks to our indigenous high school scholars as well as sets of guidebooks for the teachers of the scholars at the local high school. Now, scholars can take their books home with them and study/review what they learned in class.
Last September 8, 2017, 253 elementary school children from the Baclayan Mangyan School, received their school supplies and raingear. Stairway also distributed instructional materials of paper, pens, thumbtacks, staplers, etc. for the teachers.