‘Dear Mr. President’ letters seek free education
MANILA, Philippines—In their Antipolo City neighborhood, 10-year-old classmates Romeo Guray and Reinamel Lapitan would at times wonder why some of their playmates did not go to school.
“We pity them,” said Lapitan, a fifth grader at Jesus Cabarres Elementary School in the city.
“They don’t go to school. They are not learning anything,” said Guray in Filipino.
That’s why when given the chance to address one request to President Benigno Aquino, the two studentshad the same wish: Free education for all.
“Like her, I am asking for free education because other poor children can’t go to school,” Guray said.
From free education and better facilities to sex education and even
Wi-Fi access, students from around the Philippines scribbled one-line wishes and poems for the President to press for action on the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDG), a list of eight global goals to eradicate poverty and improve the quality of life around the world.
Tagged the “Dear Mr. President” campaign, students in Grades 4 to 6 from some 2,000 public and private elementary schools around the country wrote to Aquino in hopes of pushing for the Philippines’ compliance with the MDGs, especially the goal of achieving universal primary education.
The country is among nations known to be behind in implementing programs aimed at achieving the MDGs by the 2015 deadline. Specific to the education goal, the UN said some 5.2 million Filipinos are not able to go to school while 61 percent of children are not prepared to enter formal school.
The school letter-writing project is part of the “Stand Up, Take Action” campaign that calls for swifter and more decisive state and civil society action on the MDGs ahead of this month’s United Nations Summit in New York.
“We were amazed with the quality of responses from the students. The students sent a variety of compositions, from letters to short stories, poems and essays. Most were familiar with the issues our country is facing,” said Ching Jorge of the Bato Balani Foundation, one of the organizers.
“The entries also showed the faith that they have in our President,” she said.
In a brief program at the Department of Education’s central office in Pasig City on Friday, selected students read out their letters to the President. To reach Aquino, the letters were handed to Education Secretary Armin Luistro.
“Through activities such as these, we are able to bring attention to the kind of quality education our students need. The future of our country relies on our students and it is our responsibility, not just the government, but all of us, to make sure that our students are able to have quality, accessible education,” Jorge said.
Anton Hero Gani, a third-grader from Jaro, Iloilo, called on Aquino to revive hope in every Filipino.
“In my young mind, you are the one who can lead our country and make better things done,” he wrote in a letter read in his behalf during Friday’s rites.
“Please, Mr. President, help our country as we continue life’s journey. Bring hope in every Filipino’s heart that in your governance, goodness will start,” Gani wrote in his 10-line poem.
Besides letters, students from six universities in different parts of the country also wrote messages on separate freedom walls, each a puzzle piece part of an “MDG 2” wall put together during Friday’s program.
Most of the scribbles asked Aquino to address long unresolved problems in the education system, among them a shortage in school facilities and the lack of trained teachers.
Civil society organizations E-net Philippines, Kabataan Kontra Kahirapan, Global Call to Action Against Poverty, TeamAsia, Bato Balani Foundation and the Diwa Learning Systems partnered with DepEd and the UN Millennium Campaign for the activity.
