Marilao youth council distributes learning activity kits to kids amid COVID-19 crisis

Marilao youth council’s “Learning Activity Kit” for the children in their barangay (Image: courtesy of Anna Katrina Santos/Facebook)

Members of a youth group in the municipality of Marilao in Bulacan have stepped up efforts to help ensure children’s continued education amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis.

Anna Katrina Santos, the 22-year-old Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson of Barangay Poblacion I in Marilao and federation secretary, along with her council members has launched an educational project that aims to distribute learning activity kits to the kids in their area.

In a Facebook post, Santos shared photos of the learning kits their council has distributed to 150 children in their barangay on Tuesday, June 2.

https://www.facebook.com/annakatrina.santos.94/posts/3184431548254946

“Ang edukasyon ay magsisilbing pag-asa [natin] sa gitna ng krisis. May internet man o wala, may paraan para matuto ang [mga] bata,” Santos stated in her post.

(Education will serve as our hope in the midst of the crisis. Whether or not there is internet, there is a way for the children to learn.)

“Hindi man kami mga guro o matatalinong tao para magturo, suportado namin ang edukasyon na hindi dapat mahinto,” she added.

(We may not be teachers or intelligent enough to teach, but we support education, which should not stop.)

The learning kit includes a plastic envelope, four mathematics window cards (with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems), a box of crayons, pencil and sharpener, Abakada (Filipino alphabet) booklet, and 20 pages worksheets (10 pages for alphabet and another 10 pages for numbers) from the DepEd Commons.

They also added two toys and a pack of biscuits for the kids’ leisure time, as well as an enrolment form from a public elementary school in case the school opens.

Items included in the children’s “Learning Activity Kit,” a project of Marilao youth council in Bulacan (Image: courtesy of Anna Katrina Santos/Facebook)

According to Santos, the recipients of the kits are kids who are in daycare, kindergarten and Grades 1 to 3 of both private and public schools, as well as incoming daycare children from their barangay.

Since there are no projects yet under their Sports Development Office this summer, Santos’ team thought of re-aligning the office’s budget in support of the major problem that the Department of Education (DepEd) has been facing due to the COVID-19 threat.

“Ten percent of the youth’s funds have been used for this project,” Santos told INQUIRER.net.

The planning for this project was held when they had an emergency meeting last May 21, with the support of their barangay chairman Rody San Juan and his council members, as well as the other officials whom she acknowledged in her Facebook post.

In a separate Facebook post on Wednesday, June 3, Santos shared photos that were taken when they went to the office of the Department of Education in Bulacan to ask for their permission prior to the distribution of the learning activity sheets.

https://www.facebook.com/annakatrina.santos.94/posts/3186109158087185

Furthermore, Santos shared with INQUIRER.net how their team would want to spread positivity and learning amid crisis: “During this pandemic, we are taught to do self-improvements, especially for the youths even when we are not in school. This is also a perfect time to equip ourselves and our family relationships through better and loving knowledge.”

As a young public servant, Santos encourages the youth to strive and show their passion for learning despite the delays that the COVID-19 has caused to the educational process. She advises kids to lessen the use of gadgets and exposure to social media and, instead, take this opportunity to spend time with their family and do recreational activities that would help them learn.  /ra

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