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Friday, June 09, 2006
Agusan Sur opens 'floating library'
By Ben Serrano
Caraga Correspondent
PATIN-AY, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur -- The provincial government of Agusan del Sur along with the assistance and help of non-government organizations will enable schoolchildren living at the 89,359-hectare Agusan Marsh to become voracious readers.
Under "Project: Pagtuon Alang sa Masanag nga Kaugmaon" or (Project Learn For A Bright Future), the Provincial Government of Agusan del Sur and the Department of Education launched 55 library centers since 2003.
The program benefited 200,000 children province-wide and among the beneficiaries are the school children in Agusan Marsh.
People living in sitios and the barangays covering the Agusan Marsh are mostly Manobos. Their income depends largely from the maritime resources of the marsh.
Living in these remote areas, their children faced difficulty in going to schools in the mainland.
With Project Pagtuon (Learning), the Provincial Government of Agusan del Sur forged an active partnership with Save Mindanao Foundation, a non-government organization.
Progressive
Together they extend support to literacy activities of Agusan Marsh residents through the construction of literacy and library centers and distribution of thousands of books and education materials.
With the "barotos" as their means of transportation, the school children and adults are learning at the floating schools around the Agusan Marsh.
To address the need of the local tribal communities and the school children to have their own electricity in the floating schools, the Provincial Government of Agusan del Sur forged an agreement with the Department of Energy in providing solar powered electricity in the Agusan Marsh.
Initiated by Tuklas Katutubo Inc., the "May Ilaw ka na Katutubo" is an IP Community-based Solar Electricity project under Project BEACON (Barangay Assistance to the Countryside).
The project brings power to distant communities sponsored by MIRANT Philippines Foundation in their participation of the Department of Energy's "O' Ilaw" (O' Light) Program.
With the project, Agusan Marsh residents can easily access information and communication technology and other educational needs requiring electricity.
The teachers and students have extended their interest in education until nighttime.
"Education is one of the priority development agenda in my administration," Agusan del Sur Governor Adolph Edward G. Plaza said during the launching of the floating libraries.
"If our people are informed and educated, the province will surely become progressive."
Donors
Another Provincial Government project is the World Bank and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)-funded Third Elementary Education Program (TEEP).
Under the program 1,099 elementary classrooms in the province were built and/or repaired, which is equivalent to 53 percent of the total existing instructional rooms.
For the high schools, the Secondary Education Development and Improvement Program that is jointly funded by Asian Development Bank and JBIC constructed and rehabilitated high school buildings and classrooms in the province.
Through the program, around 265 classrooms, 21 science laboratories, six HE buildings, 11 industrial arts buildings, nine libraries, 18 faculty rooms, seven guidance rooms, 172 toilets, and four new schools were built.
Agusan del Sur Provincial Government information officer Tata Perez said through foreign funding they can help indigenous people of Agusan del Sur particularly those living at the Agusan Marsh achieve literacy.
"These through floating literacy and library centers to be built for floating residents for Asia's largest marshland," Perez said.
Supplies
One of the major donors of books for the floating libraries is the Books for the Barrios Foundation Inc., one of a few philanthropic organizations shipping donations to the province of Agusan del Sur.
Books for the Barrios, through Nancy and Dan Harrington, has already distributed hundreds of books and educational materials to the floating library and literacy centers in Agusan Marsh.
The foundation also distributed hundreds of thousands of books, educational materials, school textbooks, computers, science kits, toys and games, athletic equipment and consumable school supplies throughout the elementary and high schools of the province.
The province managed to save millions of pesos by paying the freight and handling of these books and educational materials from the US to Agusan del Sur.
The Agusan Marsh straddles five municipalities, 126 barangays and sitios, all in Agusan del Sur.
(June 9, 2006 issue)
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