Philippines: Marakina

From Philippines 2011

Today was our first day of distribution in the Philippines.

As a teacher, I was very interested to see that our afternoon distribution was being held at Nangka Elementary School in the town of Marakina. As the children were being organized into groups for their photos, I had an opportunity to sit and speak to the school principal. She explained that Nangka is a public school for children in Grades 1-6 with a total school population of 3,795 children.

From Philippines 2011

Due to the size of the school, children attend in two shifts--Grades 1, 3, and 5 in the morning and Grades 2, 4, and 6 in the afternoon. With 100 teachers on staff each class numbers about 38 students.

The teachers helped select the children most in need of receiving a SCAW bedkit and the principal commented on how wonderful it was to have a backpack and school supplies included in the bedkit. She found it hard to believe that 800 students would be considered a large Elementary School in Canada and that Primary class sizes are only around 20 students.

The size of the school and classes may be different in the Philippines and Canada but the smiling faces and shining eyes of the children are universal.

Pat Innes
for Team Philippines 2011

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