OUTGOING Ateneo de Manila University president Fr. Bienvenido F. Nebres, SJ, jabbed at the Department of Education’s (DepEd) plan to give a computer tablet to elementary-school students.
“We will never solve that problem [of competitiveness] if we don’t have connectedness. Related to connectedness is the move to give a [PC] tablet to every child in public schools. How disconnected can you be?” Nebres told participants at the Congress of the Ateneo Professional Schools (APS) last Friday.
The Jesuit priest was referring to the DepEd’s plan of giving a portable computer instead of a printed textbook.
Secretary Armin Luistro, a member of the Philippine District of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, told reporters last December that a prototype has been developed.
Luistro said that of the P207-billion budget for the Education department, about P700 million is set aside for connecting all schools to the Internet by June this year.
In the APS Congress, Nebres accepted a P0.5-million cash donation from the APS for his feeding program for public-school children.
According to Alfredo Bengzon, vice president for APS, they are helping Nebres to feed 400 children by March and 4,000 by June, with a target fund of P4 million.
“You can have more and better classrooms; you can give them more and better books, technology, but if the learners aren’t there, what’s the use?” the former Health secretary told reporters.
Bengzon said this was what teachers told Nebres in 2001 who, in turn, tapped the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) in a study on the academic progress of public schools.
“The teachers said students were fainting inside the classrooms, were habitually absent because of illness, and many were undernourished.”
So we had to change course, Nebres said, after linking nourishment and student achievement.
“Eighteen years ago, we said the goal of the Ateneo de Manila University would be to help close the competitiveness and poverty gaps. We placed a lot of attention on [the former]. But we realized that we will never move if we didn’t help solve the poverty gap…because there is a disconnect between the wealthy and the poor.”
Nebres said technology and having advanced knowledge in mathematics, a degree in college, “are nice things, but are not fundamental” in helping solve the poverty gap.
“The ultimate measure of who we are is not all our achievements.”
The most important thing, he said, is the ability of those who have the resources and expertise to be able to connect with the world of the poor.
Hence, Bengzon said the APS would encourage its students to set aside P11.50 a day and donate to the feeding program.
“Because that’s what it only costs for one meal. If they can afford to buy tickets for basketball game or for a movie; if they can afford to eat in high-end restaurants, hotels and resorts, they can afford to give that much.”
Bengzon added that it would only cost students P1,495 a year for a regular meal of a schoolchild while in school for 130 days.
If all the estimated 2,500 students of the APS donate, they would be able to raise about P3.74 million. Based on the feeding program’s target of 4,000, that amount would still be P2.24-million short.
(Dennis D. Estopace)
