MANILA, Philippines - At a time when education is becoming more and more a privilege rather than a right, it is heartwarming to know that there are quite a number of institutions that strive to give the poor better access to schooling.
Such is the Makabata School Foundation Inc., a non-stock, non-profit foundation that runs a school, located in Barangay Sta. Lucia, Pasig City that aims to provide a wholistic, Christian education, in a formal and non-formal manner.
It offers kindergarten, elem-entary and high school to underprivileged children and out-of-school youth.
At present, Makabata, which has had three batches of high school graduates, has 146 students who only have to pay P100 every year.
The students are given two sets of uniforms, shoes and enough school supplies at the beginning of the school year. They are also provided with textbooks that they have to return at the end of the school year.
“Apart from these, the students have free snacks and lunch everyday, Mondays through Fridays,” says Maruxa Pita, assistant to the president of the Foundation, Felix Sison.
“They also have medical and dental check up once or twice a year,” she says. Medicine is supplied by hospitals and laboratories that support the foundation.
The cost of educating one child per year amounts to P14,800 – P700 for uniforms and shoes, P1,300 for school supplies and textbooks, P800 for transportation allowance, and P12,000 for the teachers’ salaries.
On the average, the cost of sending one child to school would be P1,230 a month or about P40 a day.
Asked where the foundation gets the funds, the very amiable Maruxa, of Spanish ancestry who came to the Philippines to teach at Poveda Learning Center in 1959, says, “I think it comes from God, through different kind persons.”
“The alumni of Poveda are very enthusiastic about Makabata. We also have the support of, among others, the Rotary Club in Pasig, Women’s Rotary Club in Makati, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and International School-Manila. Even my classmates in Spain send donations,” Maruxa says. “Also, the people I met during my 20-year stint at the Cultural Center of the Spanish Embassy in Manila are helping the foundation.”
Maruxa says during the month of March, they give out application forms, after which an orientation is held for the applicants. The school representatives then visit the houses of all the applicants and select the poorest children who cannot even be sent by their parents to public schools. She says they prefer those who live a little nearer to the school because they have a school bus.
The Makabata Foundation evolved from a feeding program for street children by the Bread of Life Ministry (EDSA Shrine) as early as 1994.
From 1995 to 2001, with the help of Poveda, its faculty, parents’ association as well as members of the Teresian Association, the street children in the Bread of Life feeding program were provided with catechism classes and academic tutorials.
In January 2002, the Makabata School Foundation based in its newly acquired site in Pasig City was officially recognized by the Department of Education. The house and lot, acquired through fund-raising efforts of the Makabata Foundation and a grant from the Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion International (AECI), was remodeled and equipped with all the basic facilities needed by a school.
The school has eleven class-rooms, a computer center, a small library, a Science laboratory, a shop room, a kitchen and a basketball court.
“We have 16 teachers, both in elementary and high school. In elementary, we have one teacher per grade and in high school, one per subject in compliance with the requirements of the Department of Education. Then we have a small staff – accountant, secretary, cook, cleaner – but the children, in different groups, also clean their rooms everyday,” Maruxa says.
Maruxa is quick to point out that they also encounter problems similar to those of other schools.
“We also lose students in the course of their study. Some of them are a little lazy. One got pregnant while in high school. Another one, a boy, got involved in drug peddling,” she says.
“It’s their choice, nobody’s forcing them. It’s the culture in the level of society that they are in. But most of the students say their choice is to study,” Maruxa says.
“Now we have nine students in fourth year high school who are taking the aptitude test in college. But you know, I am happy with this small group of children. They don’t get much attention at home, so they need all the attention from us here,” she adds.
Those who belong to the three batches that have graduated from our high school are in college, some taking up courses at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), she says..
Maruxa finds Filipino students very appreciative.
“They appreciate everything you do for them. If you trust them, they trust you. If you show them love they will love you. That’s very gratifying,” she says.
“My idea of Makabata is to make these students good and honest citizens of the Philippines. These children are nobody in the world. They can’t read, they can’t write. So they have to be educated, for them to know their rights. And the moment they get a job, they will have security and everything else will fall into place,” Maruxa says.
Contact the Makabata School Foundation at tel. 656-8640 or 656-1289.