Friday, September 20, 2013

Sarangani Big Brother presents RockEd concert on May 9

MAITUM, Sarangani (May 5, 2013) – Some 2,000 volunteers helped this summer’s “Sarangani Big Brother: Reading is Fun! – Season 6” bringing to fore the spirit of volunteerism among the youth, teachers, education stakeholders and the community.

The culmination program here on May 9, which is expected to be attended by Education Secretary Armin Luistro, would be capped by a RockEd Philippines concert with Dong Abay and the Tanods “to reinforce our advocacy and a tribute to our volunteers,” said Anne Edday, program manager of Quality Education for Sarangani Today (QUEST).

RockEd is a volunteer group working to provide venues and events for alternative education.

QUEST, which has been running Sarangani Big Brother (SBB) since 2008, won a Galing Pook Award in 2012 for innovation and excellence in local governance.

The QUEST award landed Sarangani in the Hall of Fame of Galing Pook.

Sarangani under the leadership of Gov. Migs Dominguez, the 1st Jesse Robredo Leadership Awardee, received the Galing Pook award 2009 for Kalinaw Sarangani, a peace and development program of the province, and Galing Pook 2011 for Justice Enhancement and Empowerment Program.

The 2,000 volunteers this season is the biggest batch for SBB which had received 5,000 volunteers during the past five summers.

“It is inspiring to see a growing number of youth actively engaging themselves in Sarangani Big Brother year over year and doing their best to ensure their ordinary volunteer days can inspire an
extraordinary future someday,” Edday said.

Edday said various awards will be given during the culmination program. These include the SBB outstanding municipality, outstanding Municipal Federation of Sangguniang Kabataan, top 10 outstanding barangays, top five outstanding barangays per municipality, top five outstanding youth volunteer per municipality, top five outstanding teacher-volunteer per school, and top 10 schools.

“Reading is the most important skill that a child must master by the time he completes Grade 3,” Edday pointed out. “The primary years are important, as they are the foundation years.”

SBB is a reading program designed to assist the Department of Education (DepEd) in improving reading skills among incoming Grade 2 and 3 learners identified as “frustration readers”.

SBB: Reading is Fun! Is a 15-day, whole day, remedial reading program implemented in partnership with the Alcantara Foundation, the DepEd, QUEST and Sangguniang Kabataan.

“A child is less likely to drop out of school if he is able to read and comprehend, and thus keep up with his lesson in school,” Edday added.

Aside from the 2,000 volunteers, around 500 teacher-volunteers, 300 principals and supervisors and 200 local government unit and private sector guests are expected to attend the SBB culmination program. (SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE/Come and enjoy Sarangani Bay Festival on
May 24-25, 2013)

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