2 new school buildings for Lanao del Sur pupils

LANAO DEL SUR , Philippines  --- Incoming Grade 1 pupils in two barangays in the province will start using this June the school buildings built by villagers with the help of World Bank.

Local folks had constructed a school building each in Barangays Banago and in Poblacion Madamba, in the towns of Balabagan and Madamba, respectively, through the assistance of the World Bank.

The buildings were constructed by villagers as community initiative under the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Social Fund Project.

Local residents put up the school buildings “bayanihan style,” according to Mohammad Alawi, president of the people’s organization (PO) in Barangay Poblacion Madamba.

He said the involvement of local residents in the school building projects brought families closer to each other.

“We have realized that only by pooling our efforts together in maintaining law and order and in pursuing our development initiatives can we achieve peace and development in our barangays,” Alawi said.

“We are thankful to the World Bank and the ASFP for the school building we have constructed `bayanihan style’ in Barangay Banago,” said Ma. Teresa Pelyn, president of the local PO.

The ARMM’s education secretary, lawyer Jamar Kulayan, said the school buildings built in Banago and Poblacion Madamba will ease the problem of lack of school buildings in the area during next week’s opening of classes.

About 800,000 grade school pupils and high school students will flock to schools on June 2, according to Kulayan.

“And everything is being done to address all foreseen problems,” Kulayan said.

The ARMM’s education department had earlier facilitated the enlistment of more than a thousand permanent public school teachers for deployment in different schools in the region.

The ARMM covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in Central Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

World Bank has been implementing various community-designed infrastructure projects, such as post harvest facilities, multi-purpose shelters, small boat docks, foot bridges, and school buildings in far-flung areas in the five ARMM provinces through the ASFP.