Education still Aboitiz Foundation top priority

The Aboitiz Group vowed to further strengthen its commitment to public education through its BetterWorld for Education initiatives that were presented last Aug. 31 to the Department of Education (DepEd).

“While we are delighted to be recognized by DepEd as its biggest private contributor to public education in the country, you can expect us to work harder and do even more to drive education for the Filipino youth,” Erramon Aboitiz, Aboitiz Foundation chairman said during the Aboitiz Foundation’s annual Interventions in Education held this year at Enderun Colleges, McKinley Hill, Taguig City.

During this year’s Interventions in Education, Sonny Carpio, Aboitiz Foundation executive vice president and chief operating officer, presented the Aboitiz Group’s scholars for the year while Tonisito Umali, DepEd assistant secretary for legal and legislative affairs and partnerships and external linkages, delivered a response on behalf of Education Secretary Leonor Briones.

“When I see the classrooms, chairs and other projects embarked on by our partners like the Aboitiz Foundation, I ask myself: can we now address all the challenges or needs of our students when it comes to quality basic education? There’s no doubt we now can,” Umali said.

In 2015, nearly 60% of the Aboitiz Group’s CSR initiatives or P232 million went to education as the Aboitiz Foundation ramped up its investments that delivered a better learning environment to students in communities where Aboitiz operates.

“The bulk of our CSR budget goes to education and for the past 28 years, Aboitiz Foundation has spearheaded our efforts to ensure that education continues to be the great equalizer for all our student beneficiaries,” Aboitiz remarked.

Tech-Voc HS and SSES

This year, the Aboitiz Foundation aims to intensify the development of technical-vocational high schools and special science elementary schools that bring alternative learning to more students.

“We have always believed in techvoc as a keystone program in improving people’s lives by helping out-of-school youth find opportunities to continue their education while enhancing their livelihood skills. Equally, science-based skills specialization is one of the building blocks of a progressive economy,” Aboitiz noted.

To date, the Aboitiz Foundation has adopted 25 tech-voc high schools and 10 SSES, constructed or refurbished 106 classrooms and laboratories, and trained 66 teachers for this purpose.

Scholarships

The Aboitiz Group currently supports 3,267 scholars nationwide, 320 of whom are college students, while the Aboitiz Foundation alone supports 312 scholars in Metro Manila and 1,500 scholars in Cebu. This year, a total of 57 scholars of the Aboitiz Group across the country – 23 of whom were honor students – completed college education.

Since 1988, the Aboitiz Group has supported 30,000 scholars nationwide, including those under the Purposive College Scholarship Program where scholars are encouraged to take courses that may lead to opportunities to join the Aboitiz Group after graduation. Currently, 78 Aboitiz scholars are working in the Group.

The Aboitiz Group has long been supportive of the country’s public education system, believing this is where the Group can make the biggest impact. The Aboitiz Foundation’s most important goal is to achieve universal public education by establishing more Aboitiz BetterWorld schools that promise a better learning environment. This, in turn, supports one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, specifically on Quality Education (ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all).