Solar lights seen to boost kids’ learning in Agta village

Education Secretary Armin Luistro. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Through solar-powered lights, the Department of Education (DepEd) hopes to improve the learning conditions for an indigenous Agta village in Cagayan Province.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro stressed his agency’s commitment to leave no child behind in education, as the DepEd teamed up with the Global Peace Foundation (GPF) Philippines to inaugurate the country’s first All Lights Village (ALV) in Cagayan Valley to improve the studying conditions of kids in a remote Agta community.

The ALV, a program of the GPF, aims to build model communities by providing solar-powered lamps to villages without electricity enabling school children to have enough time to study and to be productive citizens contributing to the community’s development. There are currently 22 ALVs nationwide.

“We would like to journey with IP (indigenous peoples) communities in building the foundations of culturally-rooted education,” Luistro said, adding, “Our doors should not be the only ones which should be open for our IP brothers and sisters. Our hearts and minds must also stay open, because we will learn a lot from them.”

The DepEd secretary and GPF Philippines representatives, led by its president for Asia Pacific Jinsoo Kim, turned over 60 solar-powered lights to the Agta community; three solar lamp posts and two solar-powered lights to the Pureg Primary School in Sitio Pureg, Sanchez-Mira town where some 60 of the young villagers are enrolled.

The primary school is made up of two buildings for pupils in Kindergarten to Grade 4, who are taught by three teachers. It also offers alternative learning system classes at night for adults who work in the day.

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