DURING my tenure with a First Nations School in Northern Ontario, the Governor General of the day would send a regular infusion of books for use by the elementary students of that school.
The books were quite apart from the regular ones prescribed and supplied by the Ministry. However, they provide further reading and library materials to school children. Especially in the pre-internet years, this was an essential source of reading material in isolated fly-in communities of the north.
This bit of nugget formed the basis of our Book Donation Advocacy Program. While I am certain the Governor General sources the books from a network of publishers and corporate donations, my wife and I go to countless book sales from Amazon, Salvation Army Thrift Shops, the Goodwill Centers, Church Bazaars, Mission Thrift, Value Village, etc. Occasionally, we get lucky with a book sale or donation from a retiring teacher in a garage sale.
Our program distinguishes itself from others by attending primarily to the needs of teachers, intending to improve teacher quality, thereby advancing and broadening the learning process.
Forty-five years of classroom and administrative experience have given me a unique understanding and familiarity with teachers’ challenges.
To meet these objectives, we carefully select the books that we donate. As a result, it generally takes a year or more to accumulate the goal of 300 to 350 books we provide each school.
The response from teachers of recipient schools inspires us. Based on their feedback, we have added additional components to the program. It includes student workbooks and select readings ( e.g. Isaacson’s “Einstein” or Darwin’s “Origin of Species” or “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking )
We have zeroed in on books to address these new concerns, such as Coloroso’s books on bullying, Sean Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens,” and books on parenting children with special needs.
Interestingly, even if these books can be accessed online, most teachers still prefer hard copies vs. the digital format (e-books ). Generation “Y” ( Gen. Y), the generation of tech-savvy students, while slightly favouring e-textbooks in libraries, do not favour them in the classroom.
Research suggests that access to e-books is selected in specific subject areas but not others. Areas, where digital is popular are Computer Science, Economics and Business.
Overall, teachers initially take an interest in the titles they see and access further readings on the subject digitally.
From the outset, we prioritize K to 12 non-sectarian schools in Paraňaque City ( we were born, raised, and educated in this municipality ).
While both of us attended a Catholic Parochial School, I ( the author of this article ) do not prioritize donations to sectarian schools. I have become convinced through the years that the primary objective of sectarian schools is to proselytize and further advocate a specious ideology that I don’t support.
While it may appear that two of the seven recipients of our program may have ended up in a private sectarian school, I am encouraged that neither is a doctrinaire partisan despite the names.
I have a personal connection with the owners of both schools. Both are struggling to offer quality education in the face of enormous odds. ( one has since ceased operations).
I also found that displaying the crucifix or having a rosary month in some secular private schools is common. And how about a public school named after a saint? So it’s nothing different from a public display of (catholic ) sectarianism, even in a mixed company of denominations, a brain-infused affliction, especially in the older generation. These are essentially cultural rather than religious undertakings.
So far, finding a single campus of K to 12 students has been a challenge. The students are spread out as K to 6 ( elementary ), 7 to 10 ( Junior High ) and grades 11 and 12 ( Senior High ).
Our municipality has three separate K to 6 schools on the same campus, with different names and under respective administrations. They do not share the resources allotted to each school; presumably, they also have separate specialists.
The books we donated to one school were for their staff and not shared with the other two. It is disconcerting because they are within shouting distance of each other.
It is more advantageous for all if everyone can share one donation instead of making a separate appropriation for each school. A 7 to 12 setup is also more beneficial in book sharing than a different campus for 11 and 12.
The Enhanced Basic Education Act ( the K-12 program ), although passed in 2012, effectively got the Senior High implemented two years later. Some 93% of grade 10 completers continue into Senior High.
It is much higher than those who continued to post-secondary before senior high school was implemented. However, the promise of finding a job after senior high remains a distant aspiration, as only 10% are successful.
The most pressing issue confronting our educational system is infrastructure. Out of 327,851 school buildings in the country, only one-third are in good condition and are short of approximately 167 901 classrooms.
If COVID protocols are followed, we will be short by 400,000. Indeed, the congestion was overwhelming in most of the schools we visited. Often, two sessions are needed to accommodate eligible students in a given district ( Barangay).
One Senior High ( a short distance from three K-6 schools with a combined population of nearly 10,000 ), where we made a donation, is directly in the path of the nearby international airport. T
here is a non-stop landing and take-off every 30 minutes (? ) at certain times of the day, so loud that you must shout to be heard. Yet, I saw that students and teachers carried on as usual as best they could. I kept telling myself I would not last a day in this environment! “how could this be?”
“How could this be” is a persistent, never-ending question in our current state of education. 1.08 Trillion pesos is the estimated cost of the classroom shortfall, but more is needed to attract more teachers to the profession.
The current shortage is at 147,000. As long as we have figures like this, the teacher-pupil ratio will remain high. According to the World Bank, learning poverty is at 90.9% (the percentage of children age ten who cannot read and understand an age-appropriate text ).
Other relevant statistics: 92% ( age 6 to 24 yrs. Old ) attend school vs. 100.18 % worldwide ( based on 67 countries in 2021 ). 21% of students attend private schools.
How could these all be indeed?
Pulling your hair and trying to find the causes is just treading water. Can we put some effort into reducing the problem? Supporting our teachers to be better able to help the children is one way we can help. How about you?
PROGRAM BENEFICIARIES SINCE 2012
• PARAŇAQUE SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL, PARAŇAQUE CITY
• ST. BLAISE ACADEMY, LAS PIŇAS CITY
• LA HUERTA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, PARAŇAQUE CITY
• HOLY FAMILY SCHOOL OF INDANG, INDANG, CAVITY CITY
• PARAŇAQUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL UNIT 2, PARAŇAQUE CITY
• PARAŇAQUE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL KABIHASNAN, PARAŇAQUE CITY
• MOONWALK NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL, PARAŇAQUE CITY
A comment from one of the recipient schools:
“The book donation from Edwin de Leon several years ago was a blessing waiting to bear fruit. The donation was unexpected and when it came, the school immediately felt the blessing.
The reference materials were of great use to teachers and the wide assortment of books were welcomed by students. It was a milestone event for the school library especially since the book donation had substantially enriched the book resources of the school to make it one of the better-resourced libraries in this upland municipality of Indang.
This was enough to fire up the school’s resolve to enhance the reading and comprehension skills of its students.
Thanks to the Book Advocacy Program, the school is able to lend more books and encourage reading among students.”****** edwingdeleon@gmail.com
