Education
DepEd re-launches Tulong Barya Para sa Eskwela
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Jul 3, 2008 - 8:08:21 AM

MANILA, July 4 (PNA) -- In a bid to provide additional resources available to basic education, the Department of Education on Thursday re-launched the 'Tulong Barya Para sa Eskwela' (TBPSE) project, which also makes school children appreciate the use of coins.

"We had a very encouraging outcome when we first launched the project in July 2007. It's only appropriate that our schools observe the habit of giving value especially to the low-denomination coins," Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said in re-launching of the program.

The TBPSE is a joint coin re-circulation campaign of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and DepEd in line with its Adopt-A-School program where various entities both government and private sector provide support for basic education.

Lapus said during the initial implementation of the project last year, a total amount of P6,658,548.55 was generated.

The participating schools raised P2,747,116.94. Owing to the amount of coins collected, the BSP saved P8.2 million for the cost of minting said amount of coins brought back to circulation.

The BSP in turn donated the P8.2 million savings to DepEd in the form of 510 units of computer units distributed in different provinces.

Under the renewed agreement between BSP and DepEd, the total project cost amounts to P151.5 million. This is broken down into P66 million for target coins for circulation, P80 million for savings from minting the coins to be circulated and P5.5 million for the printing of Financial Literacy Guide for Teachers.

Other projects included in the agreement involve a total of P383.7 million. This includes the delivery cost in the distribution of the Teachers Guide with P3.7 million, airtime media advocacy worth P20 million, and the printing of a Financial Literacy Workbook for 12 million students amounting to P360 million.

The financial literacy project aims to increase savings especially among "small" savers, which include the public school teachers and the students.

Lapus said the BSP and DepEd are joined by the Ateneo de Manila University's Economic Reform and Advocacy to develop teaching guides and teachers training.

Under the literacy project, financial and economic literacy is provided to public elementary teachers. It integrates the concept of "savings" in the DepEd's elementary education curriculum. These are in the subjects on Sibika at Kultura, Heyograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika or SK-HKS, Edukasyong Pagpapakatao or EP and Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan or EPP.

There are already 42 teaching guides for financial literacy that have been developed for SK-HKS, 39 for EP and 21 for EPP.