Friday, November 20, 2009

Philippine Educational Project (PEP), update #2

A brochure and some printed material from St. Mary's Publishing Corporation came in the mail a few days ago. It shows the textbooks required for the elementary and high school grades. At the same time, I received a wish list from the public school principal for the pre-school grade, 1 textbook for each of the following (with the purchase price in Philippine pesos with Canadian dollar conversion): prep math (219.00/$5.05), prep reading (219.00/$5.05), prep language (189.00/$4.35), prep writing (219.00/$5.05), prep Filipino (175.00/$4.04).
To equip a child with all 5 textbooks would cost, in Canadian funds, $23.54! It is likely that at least 2 children will share a set of textbooks, and the same textbooks will be passed on to the next batch the next year.
So for the price of any one of the following: 3-half chicken Swiss Chalet meals, or 4 Big Mac meals, or 11 tall Starbucks regular coffee, two or more children will have a set of textbooks. In Ontario, $23.00 is not enough to buy a dozen regular beers!
The textbooks will physically last a few years and the learning will last a lifetime whereas the food items will be excreted from your system in 24 hours!
Think about it.
More updates to come, of course.

1 comment:

  1. Degs, you are so right, giving doesn't have to hurt..I'm sure we can all sacrifice $23.54 once a year.That's roughly 6 cents/day for 365 days. That jar-full of moldy-pennies sitting in the garage could really make a big difference in one child's life.

    Viv

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