Filipinos in Australia vow to help build classrooms

Members of the Filipino community in Australia have pledged to support the Department of Education’s (DepEd) TEN Moves (The Entire Nation Moves) program, which seeks to raise funds to build 10,000 public school classrooms all over the Philippines.

Citing a report by the Philippine consulate in Sydney, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Education Secretary Armin Luistro met with around 90 Filipino community leaders in a forum held at the consulate in October.

The community leaders expressed support for the TEN Moves initiative, the DFA said.

Apart from TEN Moves, Luistro also told the community leaders about the DepEd’s K+12 Basic Education Program, which aims to lengthen and enhance the quality of basic education in the Philippines.

According to the DepEd, 68,000 classrooms need to be built to accommodate the students in a 10-year basic schooling program from kindergarten to junior high school.

Budget constraints, however, allow for the construction of only 58,000 classrooms, a shortfall of 10,000 rooms.

TEN Moves aims to look for two million Filipinos who will donate P10 a day for 10 months. This would total P6 billion which could build 10,000 classrooms. The campaign will end on Oct. 10, 2012.

Filipinos based overseas can participate by donating US$10 a month or $100 for 10 months. Partnerships with the US-based Philippine Development Foundation and similar organizations around the world are being established for the purpose of reaching out to Filipinos overseas, according to the TEN Moves website.

Luistro’s visit to Sydney was part of a study tour sponsored by the Australian Agency for International Development.

He was accompanied by Commission on Higher Education Chairperson Patricia Licuanan, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Deputy Director General Teodoro Pascua, Education Assistant Secretary Jesus Mateo and DepEd Assistant Chief Lotus Postrado.