November 2022

A student’s cognitive growth depends greatly on the school environment, which is more than just a place where students congregate for classes. According to research, when learning environments are supportive, kids are more attentive and motivated to use higher-order critical thinking skills.

The SM Foundation (SMFI), the corporate social responsibility arm of the SM group, established its cooperation with the Department of Education (DepED) in 2002 through DepEd’s Adopt-A-School Program in an effort to give kids places where they can fully perfect their talents and knowledge.

Through this, SMFI constructs basic furniture and equipment-equipped SM school facilities in local communities. Additionally, SMFI incorporates specialized elements into each SM school structure to cater to the particular needs of the recipients of its funding; some of these amenities include rooms designated as guidance offices, clinics, mini-libraries, and even water tanks and handwashing stations.

To date, SMFI has turned over more than 100 SM school buildings nationwide with the help of its partners, which share the same aspirations for the Filipino learners and teachers. One of which is the SM Prime Holdings (SMPH) – one of the largest integrated property developers in Southeast Asia. Since the project’s inception, over 90 SM school buildings out of the more than 100 were built through the social good collaboration with SM Prime.

Infrastructure for calamity prone areas

SMFI and SMPH ensure that the SM school buildings incorporate a disaster resilient design to guarantee the safety of the students, teachers, and other school personnel. Emergency lights at both staircases, and fire and earthquake alarm bells are also installed.

Principal Joji Buelvo, school principal of Basud Elementary School (BES) in Sorsogon City, shared the state of their school community before they accepted the fully furnished SM school building from SMFI and SM Prime in 2021: “Ang aming paaralan ay saksi sa maraming kalamidad. Kaya karamihan ng mga classrooms ay may kalumaan na, ang mga kisame ay malapit na bumagsak—talagang hindi na conducive for learning.”

“But through your [SMFI and SM Prime] donation, our BES learners now have a haven where we can nurture their young minds to be academically-ready and well-rounded members of the community,” Buelvo further expressed.

Addressing classroom shortage

The continuous rapid growth of the country’s population is taking a toll on schools—leaving the students, even the teachers, with overcrowded classrooms which affect learners’ academic performance.

In 2012, the Banisil National High School (BNHS) in General Santos City received its first SM school building. But being the only secondary school in Barangay Tambler, BNHS records a significant increase in their enrollment per year. With this challenge, SM Foundation decided to provide another edifice of hope for the sub-urban Muslim community in 2021, addressing the growing needs of BNHS learners and teachers.

BNHS then principal Shiela Balbon said, “Yung patuloy na paglobo ng population every year ay talagang naging suliranin namin.”

“Pagpasok ng 2020, nagkaroon ng COVID. So naisip ko baka hindi na matuloy. Pero itong SM Foundation, walang pande-pandemya sa kanila. Talagang desidido silang matugunan yung pangangailangan sa classroom ng mga estudyante,” she added.

“Our salute to our longtime partner, SM Foundation and SM Prime, for being so generous and proactive in providing us with school buildings that are conducive to learning. We are so grateful for your extended support to our school amidst the pandemic,” Balbon concluded.

Through its School Building Program, the SM Foundation actively participates in DepEd’s Adopt-a-School initiative. By constructing classrooms across the country, this social good program seeks to promote high-quality public education.

Motivated to accomplish more and venture beyond funding for schooling

Four years after beginning its mission to close the education gap in the nation, Bukas achieves a historic first by paying more than P500 million in tuition for Filipino students in the pursuit of a better future.

Funding The Future

The idea of ErudiFi’s parent firm Bukas, a tech-enabled school finance platform, was to give Filipino youth a better tomorrow by starting with accessible student loans. The student-first brand has assisted more than 15,000 students across 90 partner schools throughout its time of operation, demonstrating its constant year-over-year growth.

Having onboarded more partners this year including expansions in Bacolod and Zamboanga, Bukas broadens its reach to help more Filipino students. Partners in Metro Manila include De La Salle University, Centro Escolar University, Technological Institute of the Philippines, Adamson University, Mapua University, National Teachers College, Our Lady of Fatima University, Far Eastern University and FEU Tech among others. In line with the vision of delivering inclusive and accessible education, Bukas is also partnered with schools outside the metro including Saint Louis University, Cebu Institute of Technology-University, PHINMA Education, and University of the Visayas, and is looking forward to growing this list soon.

The company’s growth also attests to the real demand for accessible education financing in the country. “Despite the pandemic the past 2 years, we’ve managed to continuously grow our portfolio. We’re confident that we can scale the business to help even more students continue their studies for a better tomorrow,” says Jon Robert Emlano, President of Bukas.

Angel Aquino, a nursing graduate of Universidad de Dagupan, expresses her thanks for Bukas’ help, “My school recommended Bukas to me. Thank you very much, Bukas, for the opportunity na binigay niyo sa isang tulad kong estudyanteng ina para po makapagtapos o mairaos ko ang aking pag-aaral. Dahil po sa inyo ay naipagpatuloy ko po nang maayos yung pag-aaral ko.”

Kasama Ka Bukas

A student’s journey can be quite a rollercoaster ride– gruelling projects, suspenseful grade reveals, nerve wracking presentations, and on top of it all is the pressure to do well. Surviving the student life requires a strong support system, and Bukas is determined to be part of that for many young Filipinos.

Going beyond providing tuition loans, Bukas launched its “Kasama Ka Bukas” campaign (bukas.ph/kasama-ka-bukas) where students may expect help for their studies in more ways than one.

● Content. The Bukas Blog(bukas.ph/blog) offers a wide array of content from course, career, and financial literacy that can help students navigate through their journey.

● Advice. Tomaximize each student’s learning, Bukas works together with partner schools to mount online and offline events that will help students discover more about their passions, seek advice to guide them on their path, and discover new opportunities to help enrich their lives.

● Community. Joined by the same vision of achieving a brighter tomorrow through education, Bukas reinforces the importance of one’s support system. Uplifted by inspiring stories and shared experiences, students, through an exclusive community, can come together to create valuable connections.

With Bukas showing no signs of slowing down, the team is committed to improving the quality of education in the nation through education financing and other means while also making a bigger difference in the lives of its students and partner schools.

“Our goal next year is to be aggressive in covering more schools outside Metro Manila, providing better access to affordable financing across the country. We are also working on expanding our products and services to cater to more students and improve the user experience for the school admin and the students,” shares Emlano.

The Department of Education (DepEd) has recognized schools and divisions from all around the nation for their excellent endeavor to maintain adequate sanitation through its partnership with Unilever Philippines and germ-killing specialist Domex.

Two school divisions and five schools were honored with Eskwelang Unstoppable Awards during a ceremony held on November 15 at the DepEd Central Office in Pasig City.

Based on the data obtained from the DepEd’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools (WinS) monitoring report for school year 2021-2022. the City of Navotas won as Best School Division, garnering the highest score on select sanitation indicators in DepEd’s WinS monitoring. Bislig City of CARAGA Region won as Most Improved School Division, showing the highest change in the total score for the same sanitation indicators across 2 school years. Bangkulasi Elementary School, Dagat-Dagatan Elementary School, Navotas Elementary School, Filemon T. Lizan Senior High School and Bangkulasi Senior High School were awarded from the winning Best School Division as Best SDO-Model Schools as they showed exemplary practice in keeping their schools clean and germ-free.  

“This is an important partnership for Unilever and we’re very much honored because this initiative has helped our schools become a safer and better avenue for the youth to develop a clean school environment,” says Unilever Communications and Corporate Affairs Head Ed Sunico says in a statement. “We hope to get everyone’s help throughout the year and in more to come so that we can maintain this standard across all schools nationwide.”  

DepEd Undersecretary for Legislative Affairs and Partnerships Gerard Chan highlighted the challenges faced by the public throughout the ongoing school year, and how key partners like Unilever and Domex have helped the government implement the Comprehensive WinS Program. The program aims to provide clean water, usable and clean toilets, and proper hygiene practice in schools which are essential to achieving learning outcomes and are integral to keeping learners safe and healthy. 

“We at the Department of Education recognize everyone’s concern over the health and safety of our learners within and beyond the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. As learning shifted from classrooms to homes in the last 2 years, we have witnessed the entire school community, including all partners and stakeholders, come together to support our learners as they continue engaging in distance learning. And now, as we transition to 100% in-person learning, we are fortunate to have the unwavering support of our partners amidst this unprecedented time,” shares the Undersecretary.  

Immanuel Gebhardt, Country Director for the Philippines for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German government’s development agency that oversees international development cooperation for sustainable development, attended the event as well. He expressed the organization’s commitment to assist in providing local schools with supportive tools for proper sanitation with a focus on the operation and maintenance of sanitation facilities.

Unilever and Domex Brand Manager Regina Ocampo closed the event and expressed gratitude for the partnership between Unilever, Domex, DepEd, and GIZ. “We are whole-heartedly grateful that despite current challenges, we are still able to make this partnership thrive and continue to serve Filipino schools nationwide so that every student will have access to a clean school, especially usable and clean toilets, to help them become the future of this country,” says Ocampo. 

The Eskwelang Unstoppable Awards was done ahead of World Toilet Day on November 19, which aims to raise awareness for the 3.6 billion people around the globe who do not have access to safely managed sanitation.