Urban Poor Children and Women Dream of a Community Multi-purpose Center
(posted August 2007)

Every Filipino child has the right to free and quality education. But children, especially of the poorest families, do not have access to the most basic early childhood education.

In fact, according to Child Protection in the Philippines, an online resource network, more than half of the over 42,000 barangays in the country do not have pre-schools. Only 19 percent of children aged 4 to 6 years old are able to enroll in public and private pre-schools.

Families, whose children are in school, struggle to make the necessary school supplies available. Books, in particular, are precious as gold for them.

To address the scarcity of books, the Samahan ng mga Bata sa Veterans (SBV), an organization of urban poor children, dreamt of a community library to cater to urban poor children in their community. While they are still looking for potential supporters to physically set up the library, SBV already started soliciting and collecting used books.

At present a total of 79 books, which includes a set of encyclopedia, science books and books for elementary and pre-school, has been collected from solicitations and donations. Out of 79, fifty-nine came from university students. This was acquired only last May 2007. The remaining 20 books were acquired bit by bit from its members since the project was conceptualized a year ago.

Meanwhile, community women through the Samahan ng Maralitang Kababaihang Nagkakaisa (SAMAKANA), an organization of urban poor women, tried to address the education of pre-school children. They utilized an unfinished community structure at Sitio Veterans, Baranggay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City.

In this structure, the Busilak Learning Center conducts classes for pre-school children who cannot afford to enroll in private and public pre-school centers. Nowadays, the learning center caters to seventy-one kids.

However, the learning center still has limited facilities in its operation. For instance, all teaching materials are carried home by the teacher every day since the center has no door and windows to secure them. In fact, children have to carry their own chairs to the center every morning and bring them back to a nearby house for safe-keeping in the afternoon.

SBV together with SAMAKANA have actively talked to people and organizations to help them construct a multipurpose center not just to house the books but also to serve as a learning center for urban poor children.

The multi-purpose center aims to cater not just to children from Sitio Veterans but to four more Sitios within Barangay Bagong Silangan. For the women of SAMAKANA and the children of SBV, the center will be a significant step towards attaining quality education for the children despite their disadvantaged social status.

Plain and bare: The structure utilized by Busilak Learning Center
to accommodate pre-school children.


Learning the basics: Urban poor children actively participating
in their classes at the Busilak Learning Center.


"Carry your own chair": Children have to bring the chairs in a
nearby house for safe-keeping.


Precious as Gold: Samahan ng Kabataan sa Veterans (SBV)
book collection for the community children.

Hopeful Faces: Urban poor children and a mother in Sitio Veterans
posing before the camera.