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)
