Book donation to boost public school libraries

MANILA, Philippines - A leading global money transfer and payment services company has donated 28,000 books to the Philippines aimed at empowering the Filipino children through education.

The books donated by MoneyGram, in partnership with the The Asia Foundation, will be distributed to more than 30 public schools in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao.

Yogesh Sangle, MoneyGram senior director of Asia, said the books and educational materials intend to develop the children’s English language skills, improve professional and examination skills, enhance knowledge in the business, legal and science professions, as well as infuse children with an early love of reading that is critical to literacy.

“We believe education leads to an improved livelihood over the long term, benefiting entire families in the future,” Sangle said during the turn over ceremony held at the Rizal High School in Pasig City last week.

He said MoneyGram is focused on providing the youth more reasons to attend school, read more books and build a better livelihood.

“We hope that by further improving learning centers and school libraries in the Philippines, we are likewise contributing to the betterment of the quality of education and information that the youth are getting. We are very happy that the Philippines is one of the recipients of this donation,” he said.

Sangle said the Philippine book distribution launch is only the beginning of a larger global giving program in Asia that aims to empower children through education.

The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia.

Last June, the Department of Education launched the Library Locator Map to encourage reading among school children by making it easy for them to find the books they want.

The library locator map, hosted by CartoDB, is a web-based map viewing tool that aims to help in locating national and local reading centers. The map can be accessed using this URL, bit.ly/LibLocatorMap.