Education Secretary Armin Luistro: Tweaking the adopt-a-school program. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines鈥擶hen the rest of the school is in a shabby state, putting up just one or two new classrooms won鈥檛 do much to improve conditions.
For the next school year, Education Secretary Armin Luistro has asked major private donors to put their money into the makeover of existing classrooms in the public schools, aside from constructing a few showcase rooms.
鈥淚鈥檓 tweaking the adopt-a-school program this year. I don鈥檛 want it to just build classrooms. It should now be a total makeover,鈥� said Luistro, addressing real estate industry executives last week.
He said the current practice under the government鈥檚 adopt-a-school program was a 鈥渂and-aid solution鈥� since donations went to constructing one or two new classrooms while leaving the rest of the school in poor shape.
Luistro said the pupils ended up being envious of their peers who got to use the new rooms.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a band-aid solution. So we鈥檙e not in the retail business anymore,鈥� he told the general membership meeting of the Society of Industrial-Residential-Commercial Realty Organizations.
鈥淲hat will be more helpful is if you go to one school and check out the entire school, all the classrooms. See if you yourself can use the comfort rooms,鈥� he said.
He said donors could help with repairs by augmenting a school鈥檚 maintenance budget so it could refurbish not only the classrooms but other facilities, including the electricity and water supplies.
鈥淒on鈥檛 leave the school until it鈥檚 totally transformed. We can鈥檛 focus on all 47,000 (public elementary and high) schools [throughout the country],鈥� he said.
Through the adopt-a-school law, the government encourages the private sector to assist the public education system by offering up to a 150-percent tax incentive for donations to government schools.鈥�Dona Z. Pazzibugan