How to change a student’s life for P400

MANILA, Philippines - Four hundred pesos can enlighten – literally and metaphorically – the future of a Filipino student living in a community without electricity.

The Department of Education (DepEd) recently launched a campaign to raise funds to finance the procurement of over 680,000 solar-powered lamps that will be distributed to students in areas outside the grid supply of electric cooperatives.

“Light makes vision possible. In the realm of education, let us be the light that will help our children realize their vision for themselves, their families, and our community,” Education Secretary Armin Luistro said during the launch of the LightEd PH campaign.

“Don’t let darkness hinder any Filipino child from the education he or she deserves,” he added.

Under the “One Child, One Lamp” component of the campaign, DepEd embarks on a mission to raise P273 million to provide solar-powered lamps to 682,610 school children enroled in unenergized schools in off-grid areas across the country.

“We call on everyone to be part of this LightEd PH campaign and bring light to those who need it and to help in extending the hours of quality learning,” he said.

In partnership with Children’s Hour and the Philippine Business for Social Program, the “One Child, One Lamp” program calls on every Filipino – including those from local government units and the private sector – to participate in the movement to provide light to every Filipino student.

“Students in off-grid barangays have limited time to study at night,” said DepEd undersecretary for partnerships and external linkages Mario Deriquito.

“Providing them electricity or solar lamps will help them extend their study time, thus increasing the chance to improve their academic performance,” he added.

Based on the latest data from DepEd, over 1.1 million students are enroled in 5,954 public schools that have no access to electricity.

Of this number, 2,414 schools were identified to be on-grid, or those within the grid supply of electric cooperatives.

DepEd signed a partnership with the National Electrification Administration to ensure that these schools will be prioritized in the electrification of on-grid areas in the country.

The remaining schools are either unidentified or are in off-grid areas, and have an enrolment population of over 680,000 as of 2014.

Deriquito said DepEd hopes to raise the funds before Christmas in line with Sec. Luistro’s pledge to “bring light” to the students by the end of the year.

The lamps, which will have a capacity of eight to 10 lighting hours with bright light capacity, will be turned over to the school and may be borrowed by students after class hours to enable them to study in their homes at night.

DepEd has instituted a system that it will introduce to beneficiary schools to ensure that the project benefit is maximized.

Luistro called on every sector of the society to take part in the project.

For local government units, he said officials may support the program by allocating part of their special education fund to the program.

Companies and organizations are also encouraged to implement a “one-hour campaign program”, where employees are called on to donate at least one hour worth of their earnings to the project. In turn, the company can match the employee donation to underscore its support of the project.

Individuals can also donate a solar lamp to a child, and may harness a network of donations by mobilizing friends.

“Individual donations will be pooled to cover at least 1,000 lamps and will be procured over a period of two weeks. Pooled lamp donations will be distributed in the priority areas of the program,” DepEd added.

Interested parties may contact the DepEd Office for Partnerships and External Linkages at tel. 633-7207 or 633-5313; Adopt-A-School Program Secretariat at tel. 638-8639; or Children’s Hour at tel. 894-1663.