DepEd Secretary notes widening support from public, private schools for campaign vs poverty
by T. Villavert
Iloilo City (28 October) -- The Department of Education's (DepEd) serious push to fight poverty gained support from 12.6 million students and teachers of public and private elementary schools nationwide, who were mobilized in gardening and tree planting activities, said Education Secretary Jesli Lapus.
Secretary Lapus said that their unified and well-coordinated effort to plant vegetable and fruit-bearing trees in all public and private elementary schools nationwide "is an eloquent manifestation of our serious push to fight poverty".
The DepEd press report disclosed that of the 35 million Filipinos who participated in the United Nation's annual observance of the International Day of Poverty Eradication, over 18 million students and teachers took part in various activities under this year's theme "Mag-ina'y Sagipin, Bata'y Pag-aralin (Save Mother and Newborn, Send Children to School).
The theme focuses on Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 1 (Alleviating poverty and hunger), MDG 2 (Universal primary education), and MDG 5 (Improving maternal health).
According to the DepEd press report more than 6.2 million public and private high school students and teachers participated in the nationwide population quiz and essay writing contests which focused on the same theme of poverty eradication.
Prior to these activities, the teachers also presented the Millennium Development Goals to students in the classrooms to inculcate awareness on UN and government's efforts towards poverty reduction.
The country joined 191 UN member countries for this campaign, the DepEd press report disclosed. (PIA) [top]
