US Pledges More Support For Education In Mindanao

THE ALLIANCE: Dr. Thomas Kral, education chief officer of the United States Agency for International Development, center, with Nancy Sheppard, of the International Youth Foundation; and Ray Dean Salvosa, director of the Consuelo Foundation, during the launching of the Education and Livelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA) / In-School Youth Engagement Program in Maguindanao province. The ELSA program will help train Filipino high school students and inspire them to become responsible community leaders. (Zamboanga Journal)

MAGUINDANAO (Zamboanga Journal / 04 Feb) A senior US government official has pledged more assistance to help train Filipino teachers and students in various skills and scholarship programs in the southern Philippines.

Dr. Thomas Kral, chief education officer of the United States Agency for International Development, inspected the Broce Central Elementary School in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao on Saturday and spoke with dozens of teachers who are undergoing special training in Mathematics funded by USAID's Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills or EQuALLS project.

"We are so glad to see the teachers are happy about the training and we promised that there will be more training in various programs under the EQuALLS project," Kral told the Zamboanga Journal.

Kral also inspected different classrooms and said his group will work to provide more assistance to the school. Many teachers have complained the school has no library and lack readings materials and appealed to Kral for donations.

The USAID earlier provided the school with books and other materials for the repair of many dilapidated rooms. "We are grateful with the USAID and the people behind it for helping us and we promise to teach also other teachers learn what we will acquire from this training," one Muslim teacher said.

Lorina Aquino, local program manager for the Creative Associates International Inc., which is helping USAID humanitarian projects in the Philippines, said the training program would benefit about 3,000 teachers. "And this is just the start of many more trainings to come under the USAID programs," she said.

EQuALLS have already trained about more than 100 teachers in the Muslim autonomous region and 90 more in the Zamboanga Peninsula, she said.

On Friday, Kral also led the launching of the Education and Livelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA) / In-School Youth Engagement Program to help train Filipino high school students and inspire them to become responsible community leaders.

ELSA, founded in 2004, is a three-year multi-stakeholder partnership that seeks to create and expand school and community-based learning and job training programs for young people in Mindanao, especially in the Muslim autonomous region and other conflict-affected areas in the Zamboanga Peninsula.

It also has programs in the provinces of North and South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Sarangani and in the cities of Zamboanga, Cotabato, Marawi and General Santos, Aquino said.

ELSA is an alliance of international and Philippine Non-governmental organizations, foundations, and education institutions, including the International Youth Foundation, the Ayala Foundation, the Consuelo Foundation, Petron Foundation, Philippines Business for Social Progress, and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization- Regional Center for Innovation and Technology (SEAMEO-INNOTECH).

Its work is strengthened by funding assistance from the USAID also under the EQuALLS program, Aquino said.

This alliance seeks to create and expand school and community-based learning and employment opportunities. And to lower the high drop-out rate and raise school participation and completion rates. ELSA is also upgrading school infrastructure, mobilizing Parent Teacher Community Associations (PTCAs), strengthening Alternative Learning Systems, and providing opportunities for positive youth leadership engagement.

To address education quality and access in targeted regions, ELSA uses innovative information and communications technology and multimedia educational programs. Livelihood training and employment promotion activities support the reintegration of out-of-school youth into the peaceful economy.

Kral said his group will continue various education programs in the Muslim autonomous area, one of the poorest in the Philippines.

"We are helping this particular area of Mindanao because it is the area that is most in need and the area most subject to instability and by addressing the needs of children we are laying a strong foundation for the future of the children. The children's education really holds the key of the future of this part of the country," he said.

The five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region are most neglected in the country and many children have limited or no access to education and health.