Friday, Apr 26, 2013

Manila: Building on the success of pushcart classrooms that won acclaim from CNN in 2009, government agencies have now come up with innovative aids to bring education to more indigent Filipinos.

Called the K4, the new idea not only brings the mobile classroom to poor students but also other elements of the modern learning environment: The Pushcart, which is Kariton, the Classroom (Klasrum) as well as the Clinic (Klinik) and the Canteen (Kantin).

“This idea came from Efren Penafloria, who was given an award by CNN in 2009 for his Kariton classrooms or classroom on wheels project for children who cannot go to school,” education secretary Armin Luistro said during the introducting of the K4 recently. “We have a curriculum for street kids who have not attended school or had stopped schooling.”

Luistro said that as originally envisioned by Penaflorida, the pushcart classrooms project tries to attract young learners by bringing the school to them instead of them walking or travelling to get education.

Aside from providing regular classes, the pushcart classrooms also develop the well-being of the students by integrating them with the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer (MCCT) programme of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Under the programme, each homeless family is allowed to enrol up to three children each, with an allowance of PHP300 (Dh26.67) every month per student. Another PHP500 will be given monthly to the whole family as a health grant. The beneficiaries will also be given memberships to the government social healthcare insurance, the Philhealth.

Social welfare and development secretary Dinky Soliman said that as of now 2,000 families are already benefiting from the MCCT programme while other forms of assistance are also in the offing.

Soliman said that the DSWD is even planning to provide the learners’ family with assistance so that they can rent a house. “We are also starting to provide them with livelihood so that they can have a means to support themselves,” she said.

K4 hopes to replicate Peñaflorida’s success in his native Cavite, where the Kariton Klasrum has helped hundreds of Out of School Youths transition to regular schools.

Luistro says there are currently four areas in Metro Manila where Kariton Klasrums are already being utilized, particularly in Malabon, Caloocan, Quezon City, and Pasig.

By Gilbert P. Felongco Correspondent

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