2 firms to provide oral health kits to public school kids nationwide

MANILA, Philippines - Multinational consumer goods giant Colgate-Palmolive Philippines, and leading Filipino logistics firm 2GO of the Aboitiz conglomerate will help the Department of Education (DepEd) provide and distribute thousands of “oral health kits” to school children in public schools throughout the country.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus signed yesterday a memorandum of agreement with officials of Colgate-Palmolive Philippines and 2GO for the massive campaign of DepEd to promote the habit among school children of brushing their teeth .

“This joint initiative is proof of the bayanihan spirit that is benefiting our public schools. Through the Adopt-A-School Program, the department engages the private sector and other education stakeholders to do more for public education,” Lapus said.

“We thank Colgate and Aboitiz for being the department’s long-time partners through Adopt-A-School, and for prioritizing education in their corporate social responsibility efforts,” Lapus added.

It will be recalled tooth decay and other oral health problems are the consistent top health problems among school children in public schools.

Under the cooperation agreement, 2GO will deliver the oral care kits to public school beneficiaries under the Bright Smiles, Bright Futures (BSBF) Oral Care Distribution Program.

It will also help transfer dental caravans to and from island provinces of Visayas and Mindanao under the Zero Cavity Mission Project.

Each oral care kit contains a toothbrush, toothpaste and oral care educational materials. Division offices will also receive BSBF educational materials such as flipbooks, teacher’s guides and instructional CDs.

“As we are grateful for their assistance, we continue to call on other private sector companies and individuals to join us provide quality educational services our schoolchildren rightfully deserve,” Lapus said.

More than 400 private sector individuals and companies helped the department in the delivery of quality educational services to public schoolchildren since Adopt-A-School was relaunched by Lapus in 2006.

 The massive support from the private sector made the Adopt-A-School Program the department’s second biggest resource generating mechanism next to the approved DepEd budget.