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Private Sector Group Launches Storybook Drive for Public Schools, Aims to Donate 10 Million Storybooks a Year
Former Education Secretary Br. Armin Luistro FSC, BDO Foundation President Mario Deriquito, and philanthropist and civil society leader Vicky Garchitorena have partnered with non-governmental organizations, corporations, business groups, and civil society groups to launch a storybook drive for public school students.
The campaign, dubbed “Sa Pagbasa, May Pag-asa,” aims to donate 10 million storybooks a year to public schools nationwide, to students aged five to 15 years old. The campaign aims to help public school children gain access to a wide range of creative, interesting, and age-appropriate reading materials and instill in them a culture of reading and learning.
“Storybooks are an important part of learning because they help reinforce values learned at home and in school, spark a child’s imagination, and teach them about different people and environments,” said Sa Pagbasa, May Pag-asa co-convenor Br. Armin Luistro FSC. “We believe that through this campaign, we will help foster a love of reading and learning among Filipino children, equip them with key skills, and help build their character.”
The campaign is led by a Steering Committee composed of the following individuals and organizations: Quezon City 3rd District Rep. Jorge ‘Bolet’ Banal, the author of the Araw ng Pagbasa Act; Adarna Publishing; Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines; League of Corporate Foundations; BDO Foundation; Benedicta Du-Baladad Law, Makati Business Club; Association of Foundations; Ayala Foundation Inc.; De La Salle Philippines; Philippine Business for Social Progress; and the Management Association of the Philippines.
Individuals, corporations, and civil society organizations can support the campaign by doing the following: a) donating new or well-loved storybooks, b) donating cash to the campaign, or c) purchasing age and grade-specific book bundles curated by local publishing houses, such as: Adarna House, Ateneo de Manila University Press, Ilaw ng Tahanan Publishing, Lampara Publishing House, OMF Literature, and Vibal.
Helping the children of Marawi recover through storybooks
One of the priority areas identified by the campaign is Marawi, which is currently recovering from five months of urban warfare. For Garchitorena, providing the children of Marawi with storybooks is part of creating child-safe spaces, helping children resume their education, and fostering a sense of normalcy through self-expression and play.
“The conflict has upended the lives of children and their families in Marawi. In addition to providing shelter, food, clothing, water, sanitation, and hygiene, and health services, it will also be critical to help children recover emotionally, to ensure that they can manage the trauma left by the conflict,” said Garchitorena. “The Division of City Schools-Manila’s Project HATS (Healing After Trauma Services) has shown that combining counseling with storytelling and art activities to help displaced children from Marawi can help them start the journey to healing. Through this campaign, we would like to help more kids recover a semblance of normalcy. For younger children, storybooks can help them learn basic literacy and numeracy skills to prepare them for school. For older children, storybooks can help encourage them to play and be creative and ease them into resuming their education.”
Cultivating a deeper, longer-term relationship with public schools
In addition to helping the children of Marawi, campaign co-convenor Mario Deriquito hopes that the storybook drive would encourage individuals, companies, civil society organizations, and schools to establish a more personal relationship with the public schools near their homes, place of worship, and place of work.
Private schools can participate in this campaign by adopting a public school and inviting each student to donate one storybook to a student in the adoptive school. Partner institutions are encouraged to participate in the campaign end-to-end—from collection of storybooks to distribution to setting up book clubs, storytelling sessions, or even tutorial sessions with public schools. Deriquito notes that the campaign could provide another opportunity for people to participate in school-community action., whether it be through setting up reading spaces or libraries, conducting storytelling sessions, or even organizing community book clubs.
“With the holiday season coming up, we would like to call on our fellow citizens to take this opportunity and engage their public schools,” said Deriquito. “This storybook drive is not just an opportunity to provide our schools with much-needed resources, but this is also an opportunity for individuals and organizations to band together, share their talents, and create stronger community linkages. When schools and communities work together, our children will have a better future.”
