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National Children’s Month is an occasion to call for upholding children’s right to grow up in environments that support their holistic development.
One of the Department of Education’s initiatives involves the duty to ensure that society’s most vulnerable members are empowered to go after their dreams through education, particularly through reading.
As stated in Article 6 of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, the state has to ensure “to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.”
Article 1 also emphasizes that governments must “do all they can to make sure that every child in their countries can enjoy all the rights in (the) Convention of the Rights of the Child.”
As we celebrate 30 years of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) this November, we call on everyone to…
Posted by Department of Education – Philippines on Sunday, November 17, 2019
The development of a child is highlighted in and achieved through education. Article 28 emphasizes the need to eliminate “ignorance and illiteracy throughout the world.” The provision reads:
“States Parties shall promote and encourage international cooperation in matters relating to education, in particular with a view to contributing to the elimination of ignorance and illiteracy throughout the world and facilitating access to scientific and technical knowledge and modern teaching methods.”
Such rights are fulfilled through educational initiatives centered on reading, which organizations such as MoneyGram Foundation aim to uphold with the help of The Asia Foundation.
The global leader in omnichannel money transfer and payment services kicked off the literacy project last July and has since provided thousands of new books and gift carts to schools.
This month, MoneyGram Foundation gave over 6,000 books and two mobile “MoneyGram Gift Carts” to underserved and rural communities in the cities of Legazpi and Iriga in the Bicol region.
Students of Rawis Elementary School in Legazpi City, Albay at Bicol Region. (Photo provided by MoneyGram)
The project benefited 15 elementary schools which held a tongue twister poem reading contest between teachers and students and a career talk by professionals.
The initiative allows students in the most remote areas of the country to have access to learning resources that will help improve their literacy and the quality of education being given to them.
Sabrina Chan, marketing leader of MoneyGram International, said the project hopes to empower school-aged youth as it does not only ensure access to books but it also provides other benefits as well.
“The partnership with The Asia Foundation’s Books for Asia program ensures students not only have access to books and libraries, but also have a chance for better economic opportunities, healthier families, and individual freedom and empowerment,” she said.
The Asia Foundation, meanwhile, has been donating books to underserved communities of the country since 1954 and continues to value the power of literacy, according to Sam Chittick who serves as the country’s representative.
It collaborates with MoneyGram Foundation that facilitates children’s access to educational facilities and learning resources in view of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child.
To know more about MoneyGram’s efforts, visit its website.
