NABUNTURAN, Compostela Valley—After its success in providing homes to poor residents and victims of natural disasters with the help of the volunteer group Gawad Kalinga (GK), Compostela Valley is addressing the lack of classrooms “through the GK way.”
Gov. Arturo Uy says the province can save on public funds and build more classrooms by tapping the GK spirit of volunteerism.
“We can strike out the cost of labor and thus save much by building schoolhouses through the Gawad Kalinga way. Even with a tight budget, we can construct more classrooms,” Uy said at the launching of the Bayanihan sa Paaralan-GK project at the capitol early last month.
Thirty-two classrooms are expected to be built this year under the project, says Raul Timog-timog, GK provincial coordinator.
Seven classrooms in four pilot areas are to be built first. These are Mapawa National High School, Bagong Silang High School annex and Sapawan National High School, all in Maragusan town; Elizalde National High School in Maco town; and Eduardo Maquidato Elementary School in Pantukan town.
Red areas
Except for Sapawan National High School, all schools will have two classrooms each. Nine more rooms for the upland Laak town will be put up during the second phase of the project.
“These areas were chosen based on the recommendation of the Department of Education as to how urgent their need for additional school rooms is. We call them our ‘red areas,’” Uy says.
The governor says his target is to finish a room in two weeks.
A typical room built by the Department of Public Works and Highways costs about P650,000. With free labor, Compostela Valley will spend only up to P500,000 per classroom.
“If we build three classrooms the traditional way, we have to spend at least P1.3 million. Through the GK way, that will only entail a million pesos. So we save at least P300,000, which could be used to put up another classroom. It’s like two plus one,” Uy explains.
Cost-effective
According to Timog-timog, the province will pay for wages of the six skilled workers to be sent to each construction site. At least 20 volunteers from the parents-teachers associations (PTAs) of the beneficiary community, local government employees and private organizations will work for free.
All volunteers shall work throughout the duration of the project, but local government employees will be involved only on Fridays and Saturdays. To hasten the construction, some parts of the building, such as trusses, doors and window jambs and steel bars, are to be prefabricated.
While the national government is allocating at least 300 classrooms for Compostela Valley in the next five years, Uy says it can meet this target in just three years.
“Education can not wait, so we do it our own way. We will not stop in our desire to help our poor constituents,” he says.
Compostela Valley wants the project to become a GK showcase. This early, GK officials are eager to see how each classroom would be built within a certain period of time, according to Richard Villanueva, GK-1MB (1Milyong Bayani) Mindanao coordinator.
Heroes
“The seeds of volunteerism sown during the first GK project in the province are now bearing fruits. I can really say ‘bayanihan’ spirit is kicking and alive in Compostela Valley. All of you are heroes,” says Villanueva, eliciting applause from the crowd of mostly provincial employees.
“Your kids would no longer go to the streets to demand for a good classroom. You, yourselves are building it, and they are even eager to help.”
The GK has built over 400 houses in different communities in the province, which has 11 towns.
GK communities have risen in the poorest parts of the country where housing is sorely lacking because of lack of government funds for housing projects or as a result of corruption.