Enhancing Primary Education in the Philippines

To meet the great demand for education in the Philippines’ Isabela Province, this exciting new project will enable the expansion of St Mark’s Children’s Learning Centre in the Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Santiago. The Centre will offer classes from Nursery to Grade 7 (currently offering Nursery to Grade 2), increasing by one grade each year. As Diocesan Bishop Frenzel Ray Piluden said when he visited ABM late last year:

“We have asked for help from ABM AID to build a two-storey building housing eight classrooms on the site of our existing Children’s Learning Centre. We plan by the end of 2028 to have all the elementary school grades, up to and including Grade 7. …[E]ach year we plan to build an additional classroom for the following year’s students.

“We are also establishing a Campus Endowment Fund to sustain the school for years to come.”

This Fund, to be supplemented by school fees, will enable the Diocese to pay its teachers at the rate required by the Government (currently the teachers are being paid well below minimum wages).

The Diocese will also conduct a strategic review of the Episcopal Diocese of Santiago Children’s Learning Centre, especially St. Mark’s Campus, to produce a 10-year plan to cover the school’s development.

Most of the Anglicans in this area are Igorot, the Indigenous people of the Mountain Province, but the school is open to people of all faiths.

As well as classrooms, the building will include toilets, a laboratory, and a library. It will also be accessible to children and adults with disabilities.

Ground preparation and school building construction started in November 2023. Up to mid-May, the following work had been completed: excavation of the foundations, construction of footings up to the first-floor beam, pouring the first-floor slab, erecting columns and beams up to the second floor, as well as the second-floor beams.

There was a two-month break from construction from mid-March to mid-May because of unusually hot weather caused by El Nino. In this region, weather conditions always pose challenges including heavy rains or excessive heat.

The installation of second-floor slab forms has now been completed. The slab has been reinforced, and electrical conduits roughed in in preparation for concreting. The next phase will involve concreting the second-floor slab and continuing the column to the roof beam.

The Diocese is currently reviewing proposed amendments to the school’s by-laws and preparing for the strategic review and planning for the Learning Centre in the coming months.

St Mark’s is accredited with the Philippines Government Department of Education.

Please donate to this project if you would like to play a part in the educational future of hundreds of young Filipino children.

Prayer

Bless, O Lord, all who are involved with the expansion of St Mark’s Children’s Learning Centre in the Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Santiago: the architects and builders, the diocese and the donors, the teaching staff, parents and the children.

We give you thanks for the classrooms that will be built, as well as toilets, a laboratory, and a library. We give you thanks that those who live with disabilities will find the buildings accessible.

We give thanks that the Episcopal Diocese of Santiago intends to teach the students about the Five Marks of Mission in the curriculum.

May the children find that they have increased opportunities because of what they have been taught in the learning centre.

May the teaching staff begin to receive adequate recompense for their work.

May the Campus Endowment Fund sustain the school for years to come.

All this we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

All photos © the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. Used with permission.