The school is a student’s second home. More than the four cornered walls we see, it is a place where talents are nurtured, skills are enhanced, and lessons are taught.

To create more conducive and efficient learning spaces for learners, the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., through its Education Development Unit (RAFI EDU), turned over a new three-story school building to the Malbago Elementary School in Daanbantayan, Cebu on November 18, 2022.

For the students and teachers of Malbago Elementary School, the new building is godsent. With the influx of enrollees for the academic year and the return of face-to-face classes, Malbago ES struggled most with the lack of classrooms. They opted to run classes by shifts and occupied other rooms within the school just to accommodate and supplement learning for all the students.

With the new school building, students from kindergarten, Grades 1 and 4 now have a room that they can call their own. Teachers occupying the new building shared that the facilitation and implementation of activities are a lot easier. With enough space, better lighting and ventilation, students are more comfortable thus allowing them to absorb lessons longer and faster. Students are more attentive, and participative and follow instructions better since occupying the new learning space.

Sheerene Abrea, RAFI EDU Program OIC, highlights the relationship between members of the community working together in fostering a positive and vibrant learning community for the learners. “This building is a testament of our hopes for education and our learners. (…) As we turnover this building to you, we also turnover the sense of hope and capacity. That when you see this building, you will be inspired and say, ‘I was part of it and I will continue the legacy of its purpose that is to improve the well-being and development of our learners,’” she said.

Malbago ES is the last school in the year-long turnover activities of the RAFI EDU’s school rehabilitation and rebuild program. The program will undergo reassessment to further study how infrastructure projects can be more relevant with the overall goal of helping learners become resilient and future ready.

Since 2004, RAFI EDU has been rehabilitating classrooms and providing school facilities for schools in Cebu. As of 2020, 2,040 classrooms have been built, benefiting 70,000 learners each year.