As part of their initiative to make education more accessible to grassroot communities, SM Foundation (SMFI) constructed a new school building in Tanza, Cavite last November 20. This project is part of the foundation’s School Building Program, a social good project in line with DepEd’s Adopt-a-school program that aims to provide quality public education for Filipinos.
This new school building- a fully furnished two storey, four classroom building—will be utilized by the Grade 2 students of Punta Elementary school, who previously used a covered court to hold classes. With the opening of this new building, principal Dr. Gloria Casiano hopes to improve their current students to classroom ratio of 50:1.
“We are overwhelmed and thankful to SM Foundation and SM Prime for continuing with the project despite the COVID-19 pandemic. This school building will serve as a haven in nurturing the young minds of our Puntaceño learners,” Casiano said.
The building will officially hold classes when the threat of COVID-19 has subsided. For now, Punta will be employing a blended learning style until things normalize, much like SMFI’s other adopted schools. The facility also caters to the students’ other needs such as mental and physical well-being, with a library hub, guidance and counselling room, and a clinic in place to help students thrive holistically.
The clinic also has an isolation room where pupils can be given first aid treatment or be isolated at the onset of early symptoms of illness along with a 10-faucet hand washing area to promote handwashing in the community. With such a feature, SMFI aims to spread the culture of good hygiene and prevent the spread of harmful viruses and diseases.
Even before the first bricks were laid down on the school, SMFI has already implemented strict safety procedure to ensure everyone’s safety. According to SMFI during an interview, they ensured that everyone involved before, during, and after the construction of the building followed strict safety protocols.
“Before construction, we ensured that our contractors adhere to occupational health and safety requirements as mandated by DOLE. We also ensure that the contractors and workers for any construction project of SMFI are tested for COVID-19,” SMFI further shared. “Together with our local SM Employee Volunteers, we continuously check if our contractors follow the standard occupational health and safety standards set by DOLE.”
Other than providing children from smaller income families stand toe to toe with children with better means, SMFI also used the construction of the building to empower the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) community. Not only is the building PWD friendly and emergency ready, some of the equipment and furniture used were also crafted by the PWD community as well. To achieve this, SMFI collaborated with the members of the Foundation of These-Abled Persons, a community focused on empowering PWDs, to make the teacher’s desk sets and student armchairs. Through this partnership, SMFI is able to provide our PWDs with an avenue where they can be economically independent and contribute to nation-building.
In addition to Punta Elementary School, Basud Elementary School in Sorsogon City and Banisil Elementary School in General Santos are also scheduled to receive a fully-furnished school building this year.