Concepcion, Tarlac—“SM Foundation’s donation of a four-classroom school building has not only addressed the problem of DepEd to reduce the gap between private school education and public school education but is also a means to attend to the comfort of students as well as that of the teachers who are dedicated in their task of educating children,” SM Foundation executive director for Education Carmen Linda Atayde said as SMFI turned over a new two-story school building to the San Francisco Elementary School in Concepcion, Tarlac recently.
It is SM Foundation’s 74th school building donated to public elementary and secondary schools nationwide, bringing down the country’s classroom shortage by 224.
The school building follows the specifications of the DepEd and like the other SM-donated school buildings, each classroom is fully furnished with a toilet, armchairs, teacher’s table and chair set, blackboard, wall fans and a wall clock. An added donation of eight computers came with the classrooms.
The new classrooms will welcome incoming Grade One and Grade Four students for school year 2016-2017.There are 668 pupils enrolled in the school, 70 percent of whom are indigents. It is a farming community but “because of El Niño, many of them have no stable work; some have found contractual work in nearby factories,” says Cristina Tuazon, Grade 3 teacher, “however, the Parent-Teachers Association is an active group in trying to raise funds for the school.” There are nine school building in the campus but three are dilapidated.
School Division Education Program Supervisor Dr. Ma Luisa Bondoc who accepted the donation in behalf of DepEd and the School Principal said “the school building will create a new meaning to the community, for this gift will create a new life, new inspiration and a new beginning.” She thanked the donor profusely for “kindness in giving, creates love.”
While Barangay San Francisco are happy with the donation, those who gave the school building are happier.