1.3K learners in Sarangani get new slippers

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- At least 1,300 elementary pupils in Sarangani province received new pairs of slippers during the opening of classes in local public schools on Monday.

Kenneth Lee, project manager of the Latter-Day Saint Charities, said Tuesday they distributed the slippers to learners of 13 schools in the province, who live in remote villages with high population of tribal children.

Lee said the slippers were distributed to the beneficiaries in coordination with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Sulong Karunungan component of the provincial government’s flagship Sulong Sarangani development program.

To complement the charity donation, the provincial government of Sarangani will provide school supplies composed of writing pads, pencils, ballpens and notebooks to learner-beneficiaries of the 13 schools.

Lee said the initiative is part of the education-related grants pledged by the foundation to the province this year.

“Sarangani is among the priority areas of our continuing assistance programs in various parts of the country,” he said.

He said DepEd had earlier noted the lack of school shoes and even slippers as among the problems faced by school children in the hinterlands.

Some students, including those in mountainous villages, have to walk barefoot for hours in going to school.

Lee said the Latter-Day Saint Charities saw the situation as an opportunity to extend help to some school children in line with the opening of classes this month.  

Aside from slippers, the global foundation has committed some PHP1.1-million worth of flash card reading materials to selected schools in the province. (PNA)