Education Secretary encourages kids to donate toys to public schools

Education Secretary Armin Luistro enjoins the public, especially kids, to donate toys and other educational materials that could be used by the public school children who will enter kindergaten this June through the universal kindergarten aspect of the K+12 program.

Universal kindergarten requires all five-year olds of families that cannot afford pre-school to go through kindergarten in public schools in order to better prepare them when they enter Grade 1.

Luistro is leading a donation drive that aims to collect educational toys, books, and materials for the 1.9 million kindergarten students that are expected to enroll in the 38,000 schools and daycare centers nationwide.

“This is a project that will allow every Filipino to support education. If every Filipino is able to do something, even a small thing like giving up an old toy, it’s a message that’s worth repeating and expanding nationwide,” the education chief said.

During a “meet and greet” session with some 150 beneficiaries of the DOLE-initiated Special Program for the Employment of Students, Secretary Luistro encouraged the students to be advocates of the campaign.

He suggested that they devise a scheme so they can take part in collecting toy and book donations within their neighborhood, families, peer circles, and schools.

“If all of us pitch in for this donation drive, we could transform a typical kindergarten classroom into a laboratory that can better prepare our young learners to the real world of formal schooling and provide them greater chances to complete their education,” the Secretary said.