MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) has set up 105 library hubs or book distribution centers that would distribute storybooks to more than 43,000 public schools to promote reading among public school students.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said that mayors and governors in some provinces should be commended for providing invaluable assistance to the DepEd in its bid to build an initial 105 library hubs in strategically located DepEd school divisions throughout Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Officials said 35 of the 105 DepEd Library Hubs have been funded by local government unit chief executives who had supported the DepEd’s “Every Child A Reader” campaign that is part of the department’s bid to improve competencies in English, Math and Science of public school students.
DepEd had spent P50 million to renovate buildings in some school divisions to serve as libraries.
Lapus also approved the purchase of P170-million worth of storybooks recommended by local and foreign publishers from 2006 to 2008 that have been distributed to the different library hubs.
The P170 million used to purchase the storybooks was taken from savings generated by DepEd with its purchase of cheaper but still good quality textbooks through the conduct of transparent and open public biddings for textbook supply contracts in the past years.
“We at DepEd are determined to promote reading among public school children. With these library hubs, we now have distribution points from where we can distribute these storybooks to public schools and ensure access to these books by our public school students,” Lapus said.
DepEd had set up the library hubs to function as a “warehouse and wholesale distribution center” to exclusively serve public elementary and high schools.
The hub provides supplementary reading materials sorted by subject area or theme and placed in plastic bins ready for pick-up by the different schools in the division for use in one-month or two-month intervals.