REACHING OUT. Soldiers of the Army’s 6th Infantry Battalion, together with volunteer-partners, bring food and school supplies to indigenous peoples’ children in Maguindanao’s upland community of Sitio Senamfledon, Barangay Looy, South Upi, Maguindanao on Wednesday, July 24, 2019. (Photo courtesy of 6IB)
COTABATO CITY – Soldiers, Indigenous Peoples (IP) leaders, and United Nations (UN) volunteers have joined hands in bringing smiles to IP children in the upland village of Maguindanao on Wednesday.
Elements of the Army’s 6th Infantry Battalion (6IB) led by 2Lt. Cherry Collado, the unit’s civil-military operations officer, conducted the activity with the UN Women group headed by Aileen Kesa Marie Hualde; the South Upi local government; and the Ministry of Education in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The outreach program in Sitio Senamfledon, Barangay Looy, South Upi, Maguindanao, benefited learners from the Timuay Tata-Amuba Primary School composed of 75 young Tedurays, who were visibly elated with the “blessings” they received.
The outreach program was aimed at promoting self-sufficiency and community belonging through neighborhood educational programs and services.
It included a feeding program to improve the nutritional status and health of the beneficiaries, free haircut for young boys, and the distribution of dental kits and school supplies for the school-aged children whose families are unable to purchase needed school supplies.
In a statement Thursday, the outreach mission participants said schooling is still difficult for the children in the area as they live in the mountainous zone hardly reached by basic government services.
“Sad to note that a number of these native children are undergoing writing and comprehension difficulties, culture shock instead of them being introduced to other people,” the group said.
The group also found that the school has only one small classroom for pupils from Kindergarten to Grade 4 level.
“Scarcity on learning resources was glaring and the pupils need to walk for kilometers just to attend classes every day,” the group added.
Collado and Hualde said the challenges, however, did not hinder the parents in sending their children to school, as well as the teachers who travel for several kilometers to to teach the children in the village.
Collado said the 6IB officers and men and women are determined to continue supporting the people within its area of operation, especially the IPs living in the far-flung areas.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1076005
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