Jay Al Malasabas graduated decades ago from Esteban Abada Elementary School (EAES) in Quezon City. Last week, he returned to his alma mater, not for a reunion but for a far nobler purpose – to give back.

Together with his officemates, the Junior Operations Executive of SGS Philippines, biked his way from Makati to EAES to serve as employee-volunteers for Philippine Business for Social Progress’ (PBSP) 9th Ready for School clean up week.

He said, “It’s really good to give back to the school that helped you reach your dreams. I really take part in volunteerism activities but this is the first time that I participated in this kind of activity. It feels great that I am doing something good for other people, that the chairs I am painting will be used by children just like me when I was studying here. Even if this is just my simple way of helping, it will mean a lot for others.”

Malasabas is one of over 1,000 employee-volunteers from Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) and its member-companies who took part in the annual school maintenance week.

In support of the Department of Education’s “Brigada Eskwela,” Ready for School started in 2007 as a campaign to help public school students have a better learning experience. PBSP, together with its member-companies and partners, pooled funds to purchase books, school supplies, bags, food products, and classroom cleaning materials.

Four years ago, PBSP scaled up its involvement by adding a volunteerism component to the back-to-school campaign. It was the first social development organization to systematically bring employee-volunteers from various companies to public schools nationwide and repaint school chairs and blackboards, cover books, construct reading nooks and clean up classrooms.

PAYING IT FORWARD

Employee-volunteer Roy Taala, PBSP Luzon Regional Committee Member and one of the Managing Directors for Technology of Accenture Inc., has been very supportive of PBSP’s Brigada Eskwela event.  His main purpose in volunteering is to help improve the learning conditions of students in public schools. “Education has always been an advocacy and I know the importance of having an environment that is conducive to learning” he said.

“We, as adults, have the responsibility of doing our part in helping our country’s marginalized children to be in schools, and not on the streets. By providing them clean, decent, and working classrooms, we are giving them the opportunity to learn, with the main goal of improving their situation and ultimately, get them out of poverty,” he continued. 

Having participated in various volunteerism activities before, Taala said that however big or small the effort is, it makes a true and lasting effort to the lives of these students, as well as to the volunteers. 

“A little kindness goes a long way. Cleaning their classrooms, painting their chairs, and even just covering their books with plastic, may be small but it does make a difference. It helps them all throughout the school year. By giving these children a semblance of hope and a brighter future to look up to, we not only help them but more importantly, teach them to be responsible members of society, who will continue to pay it forwards, when their time comes.”

EASING THE BURDEN OF TEACHERS

For years, Teacher Merlie Biron and fellow teachers from EAES have been reaching out of their pockets to pay for cleaners to help them prep up their classrooms in time for school opening of classes.

“The employee-volunteers are very eager and finished cleaning in a single day because everyone’s doing their part. This is a big help because I no longer have to pay for cleaning services or do it all by myself. I told them that their grade from me is 100 percent because their advocacy is really good. I was really inspired by this program because this is such a big help for us teachers. During summer breaks, we go to various seminars and can only start cleaning our classrooms when the school year is about to start,” she said.

A clean and tidy classroom, according to Teacher Biron, also plays a big role in a child’s learning process.

She explained, “Classrooms should be conducive for learning and having a neat room will encourage children to go to school every day. If it’s clean, well-ventilated, orderly, and pleasing to the eyes, it will inspire kids to do well and they won’t get stressed out.”

FIGHTING POVERTY THROUGH EDUCATION

PBSP Executive Director Rafael Lopa said that aside from Health, Environment, and Livelihood, Education is a main program area of PBSP. He added that by supporting and initiating projects like Ready for School that help the education sector, people can make a big difference in ensuring that children will have better access to quality education and in effect, increase their chances of a brighter future. These are all in line with PBSP’s primary goal of reducing poverty in our country.

Lopa said, “In PBSP, we believe that volunteerism is innate in our employees. Initiatives like Ready for School provide them with avenues to go outside of their day-to-day work, and become more involved with the organization’s collective impact strategy. In the end, volunteers leave the schools with a greater sense of purpose and fulfillment.”

For the past eight years, PBSP has involved over 50 companies in helping more than 290 schools nationwide.

With over Php 800, 000 worth of volunteerism packages and in-kind donations, Ready for School 2016 was held in various public schools nationwide. Other participating companies include Dupont Far East, Inc., and SGS Philippines, Inc., Brother International Philippines, Inc., Cemex Asia Pte. Ltd., Inc., ePLDT, Inc., Philippine Daily Inquirer, M&H Food Corporation, Asalus Corporation (Intellicare), Mabuhay Vinyl Corporation, Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines, Inc., Tagum Agricultural Development Corporation, The Net Group, TSM Shipping (Phils.), Inc., UBS Securities Philippines, Inc., East-West Seed Company, Inc., Sagrex Corporation, Unifrutti Group Philippines, Nestle Philippines, Dow Chemical Pacific, Ltd., Citi Philippines, Telstra Foundation, and Mondelez, Philippines

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