In its commitment to support the Multi-Grade School Program of the Department of Education, the Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines Inc. yesterday joined the Brigada Eskwela in Mulao Elementary School, barangay Mulao, Liloan town.
Situated on top of a mountain around 15 and a half kilometers away from the town proper, Coca-Cola’s Little Red Schoolhouse which they constructed way back in 1998 underwent repairs and repainting in preparation for the June 10 opening of classes.
Eleodora Frias, Coca-Cola Cebu plant human resource assistant, said that to date their foundation has adopted 70 schools, but the Mulao Elementary School is the only one here in Cebu.
MES principal Marilou Tabas said that out of their eight classrooms, Coca-Cola donated three.
Currently, the school has over a hundred schoolchildren from grades one to six.
For this school year, the grade ones will not be mixed with any grade level while grade two and three classes will be combined. The grade four and five pupils will have combined classes in the afternoon and the grade five and six will have combined classes in the morning.
Grades four and six will be having a single class in the morning.
Tabas said that they have to do this due to lack of classrooms and teachers.
According to the school principal, Coca-Cola’s classrooms have helped the pupils in pursuing their education.
In 1997, Coca-Cola launched “Little Red Schoolhouse” aimed at improving access to complete elementary education for children in the country’s remote areas. DepEd made the Little Red Schoolhouse a model of business-government partnership.
The project also provides training for teachers who are tasked to handle multi-grade classes. Beneficiary schools are selected from among a list of schools holding multi-grade classes. Those with the most urgent need for permanent structures and with a sizeable number of enrollments are the best candidates for the infrastructure donation.
To ensure the sustainability of multi-grade education in these areas, the Coca-Cola Foundation encourages community members to organize themselves into an association to be trained to support the needs of the schools.
At present, the project has provided three-classroom school buildings fully equipped with chairs, desks, blackboards, and comfort rooms to 70 public multi-grade elementary schools nationwide.
The Brigada Eskwela is a schools maintenance program nationwide that engages all education stakeholders —including volunteer teachers, parents, students, community members— to contribute their time, efforts, and resources in ensuring that public schools are all set in time for class opening.
During the Brigada Eskwela week from June 2 to 7, volunteers do minor maintenance work such as the repainting of the roof and exterior walls, repair of leaking water pipes, ceiling boards, broken furniture and windows, among others are done by volunteers with the help of donations in kind from non-government organizations and corporations. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/BRP