A Promise Delivered: Ansulag ES receives armchairs from CEDO, YACAP

Georgene Quilaton-Tambiga•February 21, 2022
One Thomasian Family. (L-R) Fray Vicente Ramon, Jr., OAR, CEDO director, poses <br/> as Mr. Johnny Engada, Ansulag ES head teacher, receives the chairs from Fray Joel Alve, OAR, CST-R director-principal.
One Thomasian Family. (L-R) Fray Vicente Ramon, Jr., OAR, CEDO director, poses
as Mr. Johnny Engada, Ansulag ES head teacher, receives the chairs from Fray Joel Alve, OAR, CST-R director-principal.

San Carlos City, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL–Forty brand-new armchairs are now in two classrooms of Ansulag Elementary School, Barangay Rizal, San Carlos City.

On February 17, 2022, Colegio de Sto. Tomas-Recoletos Community Extension and Development Office (CEDO) officially turned over the armchairs to Ansulag ES. Fray Vicente Ramon, Jr., OAR, CEDO director, and Fray Joel Alve, OAR, CST-R Director and Principal, personally turned over the items for the pupils of CST-R’s adopted school.

Mr. Johnny Engada, PhD, Ansulag ES Head Teacher, together with eight faculty members welcomed CST-R’s outreach team. They also expressed profound gratitude to the donor organization, the Young Against Corruption and Poverty (YACAP).

Collaborators. YACAP and CEDO worked together in delivering the promise to Ansulag ES, Barangay Rizal, San Carlos City.

Fray Ramon explained that YACAP became CEDO’s collaborator in providing armchairs for Ansulag ES pupils after YACAP representative Jose Mari Oquiñena learned of CST-R’s mission to improve the classroom condition of the elementary school. Oquiñena is a former seminarian of the Augustinian Recollects (ForSOAR).

Surprised that CEDO delivered brand new armchairs instead recycled ones, Engada and the teachers were thankful and expressed optimism that their pupils will be truly excited and inspired to learn more once face-to-face classes resume.

For Forty Learners. Ansulag learners come from different mountainous settlements. Pre-pandemic they would walk to school but their classrooms did not have enough seats for them.

CEDO first visited Ansulag ES in December of 2020. It was then that the team assessed the most immediate and crucial needs of the remote school’s teachers and learners.

Ansulag ES, aside from being CST-R’s adopted school, is a national qualifier for the Department Education’s Brigada Eskwela, a school preparedness and cleanliness initiative. Its faculty members were also awared for their effort to raise awareness and provide facilities for ensuring that pupils and other school stakeholders do proper handwashing to prevent the spread of diseases (SBM WINS).

Classroom Tour. Ma. Nita V. Bolo, CST-R HR Officer and guidance counsellor, scans one of the learning modules at a grade five classroom.
It’s Official! Administrators of the Ansulag ES and CST-R sign the official turn-over documents for the armchairs while teacher serve as witness.
For Repair. Textbooks that need to be repaired are piled on the floor of one classroom.
The Next Step. The Augustinian Recollects inspect the dilapidated kindergarten classroom of Ansulag ES. There are only 12 kinder kids engaged in distance learning due to the pandemic. Teacher Marielle Gomez said that she expects the number to increase once the school opens to face-to-face learning.

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Georgene Quilaton-Tambiga

Georgene Quilaton-Tambiga