DepEd chief to address business leaders for more investment in basic education
Pasig City (19 September) — Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Jesli Lapus will lead business sector leaders during the relaunching of the Adopt-A-School Program on Wednesday, September 20, at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City.
As part of the 2006 Basic Education Forum, Secretary Lapus is expected to deliver his keynote address before more than 300 business leaders during the day-long conference. He will urge the business sector to lead in the process of social transformation by suporting public education, together with the community and other education stakeholders.
The event, hosted by the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF) and Mirant, will focus on various issues confronting basic education from the perspective of the business sector. The forum also aims to create a public-private sector partnership to make education a national priority, and will also serve as a venue to relaunch one of the department’s flagship programs, Adopt-A-School.
Adopt-A-School is a program of the Department of Education which gives private entities the opportunity to become active partners in education by providing assistance, either on a short-term or long-term basis, to various concerns in public education. Instituted through the passage of Republic Act 8525, the program aims to encourage the private sector to become partners of the department in addressing the perrenial problems of the public education system, such as classrooms, desks and textbook backlogs.
Moreover, the program, which is based on the principles of volunteerism and multiple partnerships for education, aims to provide mechanisms which will allow the private sector to assist in the upgrading and modernization of Philippine public schools.
Since its launch in the year 2000, the program has established a network of private sector partners who have contributed to the effort to address the needs of our public schools. Over P2.4 billion worth of contributions has been generated thus far, augmenting the mainstream budget allocation for education and benefiting some 22,000 public schools nationwide. (DepEd)