Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) kicks-off today its 10th Ready for School (RFS) campaign at Sto. Niño Elementary School in Marikina City. The annual initiative which will run throughout the month of May will engage various companies from all over the county.

RFS will also gather over 700 employee-volunteers from participating companies who will prepare various public schools nationwide in time for the opening of the school year in June. The activities include repainting of school chairs and blackboards, covering of books, construction of reading nooks and, and cleaning up classrooms.

These companies include Accenture Philippines, Inc.; Citi Philippines, Inc.; Contact Center Association of the Philippines; Deloitte Philippines; ePLDT, Inc; Hino Motors Corporation; Intellicare (Asalus Corporation); Mabuhay Vinyl Corporation; Medicard Philippines, Inc.; Philippine Daily Inquirer; Philippine Spring Water Resources, Inc.; PLDT, Inc.; Sagrex Corporation; Sycip Salazar Hernandez and Gatmaitan; UBS Securities Philippines, Inc.; TSM Group, Inc.; The Bellevue Manila; Telstra Foundation Philippines, Inc.; The Net Group; as well as the USC Campus Lions Club. In-kind and cash donations were also provided by Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines, Inc. and the Philippine Stock Exchange.

A DECADE OF UPLIFTING EDUCATION

In support to the Department of Education’s “Brigada Eskwela,” RFS started in 2007 as a campaign to help public schools students have a better learning experience by pooling funds from PBSP member-companies and partners to purchase books, school supplies, bags, food products, and classroom cleaning materials.

Five years ago, PBSP scaled up its involvement by adding a volunteerism component to the back-to-school campaign. It was the first non-government organization to systematically bring employee-volunteers from various companies to public schools. Since RFS began PBSP has involved over 50 companies in helping more than 300 schools nationwide.

RFS is just one of the many initiatives and projects PBSP does to contribute in improving the quality of education in the Philippines. With the support of its member companies and partners, the organization also provides public schools with learning resource centers, scholarships, in-school supplemental feeding, as well as training for teachers and school administrators.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]