MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) launched a campaign to provide students in Yolanda-affected areas with school kits and meals through P200 donations.
Dubbed as 'Dalawang Daan Tungo sa Paaralan,' the project allows interested donors to sponsor school kits or feeding programs for just P200.
The school kits include a backpack, four notebooks, two pads of paper, an eight-piece box of crayons, two ballpens and two pencils. Donations to the feeding program, meanwhile, go to the purchase of Vitameal ingredients, a nutritious food solution from cocoa powder, sugar and coconut milk. The feeding program will run for five days a week for two months.
DepEd aims to donate 1 million school kits and feed 350,000 students from elementary to high school.
“One of the keys to recovery post-Yolanda is ensuring that the kids in the affected areas continue their education,” DepEd Undersecretary for Partnerships and External Linkages Mario Deriquito said.
He added that getting the students back on a daily routine can help them cope with the aftermath of the typhoon and provide them with the assistance that they need.
“We want to address two of the students’ key issues— food and school supplies— so that the children will be encouraged to return to school and get a sense of normalcy. Helping back to school will also ensure that their education will not be further disrupted,” he said.
The state agency accepts individual donations and pledges from companies, and firms donating to the campaign can avail of the tax incentive under the Adopt-A-School program.
Donations for school kits may be sent to the National Bookstore Foundation Inc. through their BPI account (Account No. 006-1054-057) while donations for the feeding program may be sent to Assisi Development Foundation– Hapag-Asa through their BPI account (Account No. 243-1007-323).
Interested parties may contact the Office of the Undersecretary for Partnerships and External Linkages at (+632) 633-7207, 638-8637 and 638-8639. They may also get in touch with Romy Parayno at rbparayno@gmail.com (for school kits) and Florence de Castro at florence.decastro@deped.gov.ph (for the feeding program) or email the Adopt-A-School program at aspprogram.center@gmail.com.