60K students reap benefits

A BETTER FUTURE. Aboitiz believes that a better educated youth gives hope to the future of the country.(CONTRIBUTED)

A BETTER FUTURE. Aboitiz believes that a better educated youth gives hope to the future of the country.(CONTRIBUTED)

More than 60,000 students all over the country have benefited from the Aboitiz Group’s education initiatives amounting to P437 million or about 72 percent of its total corporate social responsibility (CSR) budget allocation last year.

Of its P610 million CSR spending in 2014, 21 percent or P129 million was directed to health-related and other donations; five percent or P30 million in enterprise development programs, and the remaining two percent or P15 million for environmental programs.

This is the biggest amount allocated by the group so far, up by 26 percent from P483 million CSR budget in 2013.

“In our focus area of education, our goal is to achieve universal public education by continuing to establish and develop Aboitiz BetterWorld schools that promise a better learning environment,” said Aboitiz Group chief executive officer and president Erramon Aboitiz.

In partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd), the Aboitiz Group, led by its social development arm Aboitiz Foundation, intensified the development of special science elementary schools (SSES) and technical-vocational (tech-voc) high schools to heed the government’s call for science-based skills specialization and bring alternative learning to young students.

Apart from the construction of 27 more classrooms in Ilocos Sur, Laguna, Albay, and Cebu for SSES and TechVoc high schools, the foundation will continue funding teachers’ training for Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s (Tesda) NCII certification.

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