Standard Chartered Bank has joined the Department of Education Leyte Division officials and corrections officers in their efforts to provide continuing education to the inmates of Leyte Regional Prison.
The prison in Abuyog, Leyte is the first in the country to offer senior high school education to inmates.
More than 60 inmate learners are currently enrolled in the two-year “Formal Basic Education for Persons Deprived of Liberty” program after graduating from the Alternative Learning System.
Standard Chartered, the oldest international bank in the Philippines, donated a computer laboratory and complete uniforms to the inmates, along with school materials such as backpacks, black shoes, socks and rubber slippers.
The items came from the bank’s employee donations in response to a call to support the education initiative.
Leyte assistant schools division superintendent Edgar Tenasas saw the enthusiasm of the inmates to advance their learning as they serve their time in prison.
Tenasas said the program will enable inmates to be productive while in prison and prepare them for when they get released.
“The computer laboratory will support the program’s goal to build the inmates’ IT skills and open virtual employment opportunities for them in the future,” he said.
SCB, led by its Head of Corporate Affairs and Brand and Marketing Mai Sangalang, and other employee volunteers visited the prison facility to personally deliver the donation items and set up the computer laboratory.
“Our support for the inmate learners of LRP goes beyond the materials and equipments we bring. More importantly, we send a message of hope and encouragement that with perseverance and desire to change, there’s a new and better life waiting for them,” Sangalang said during the turnover ceremony.
The bank’s partner, the Philippine Business for Social Progress, facilitated the donation and planning for the visit.
Construction of a six-classroom two-story building and a gymnasium inside the prison are also underway, to be funded by the local government.