USAID hands over reading materials to Kinder to Grade 3 learners in Albay on first day of classes

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USAID through the ABC+: Advancing Basic Education in the Philippines Project handed over classroom packages consisting of more than 700 early grade reading materials to two elementary public schools in Bicol Region during the first day of classes in the Philippines on August 22. This is among the more than 500,000 copies of reading materials worth Php 26.8 million ($479,000) to be distributed in the region this quarter.

USAID Philippines Director for Regional Office of Acquisition and Assistance Jennifer Crow and USAID Philippines Education Director Dr. Thomas LeBlanc led the handover of reading materials to Sto. Domingo Central School and Salvacion Elementary School in Albay Province of Bicol region. Crow and Dr. Le Blanc were joined by RTI International Senior Director for Education Research Joseph DeStefano and ABC+ key personnel.

“As a partner of DepEd, we should ensure that children safely return to schools and has access to age and context-appropriate learning resources. I do hope that our presence here today will affirm our support and commitment to providing intelligent collective action guided by shared principles and visions for the education of Filipino children,” said USAID Philippines Education Director Dr. LeBlanc.

The classroom package is a collection of materials for Kinder to Grade 3 in mother tongue, English, and Filipino to address gaps in the reading practice of learners. It consists of wordless picture books, listening stories, big books, decodable readers, and leveled readers. Over 500,000 learners will benefit from the materials this, ensuring that every learner has access to quality learning materials.

For the past two school years, USAID through ABC+ project has distributed over 4.3 million copies of reading materials to Kinder to Grade 3 children in the Bicol region alone. These materials were developed in collaboration with the Department of Education (DepEd) to ensure the quality and relevance of materials to the Filipino early grade learners.

“The continued support given by the USAID ABC+ inspires us. As we receive help from stakeholders, we Bicolanos can give more for the sake of education. We, superintendents, assistant schools division superintendents, chiefs, and everyone must really lead in implementing these intervention programs,” said DepEd Region V Regional Director Dr. Gilbert Sadsad.

ABC+ is a partnership project of USAID and DepEd implemented by RTI International in Regions V and VI, Maguindanao, Cotabato City, and in select Special Geographic Areas in BARMM reaching over 1.2 million Filipino learners. ###