> News > An Educational Play Centre to stop children dropping out of school

End of a school Year?! What a day it is! Graduation and recognition for the hardest working students, and a time for parents to rejoice and release a sigh of relief once they see the growth and achievements of their child as they depart from their school to pursue learning and understanding of the greater world outside of their classroom. In June of 2011 Springboard Foundation established an informal Educational Playcentre in Manggahan for families that could not afford to enrol their children into a formal Kindergarten. Before the Manggahan Educational Playcentre had been established, students were underachieving and once they had started schooling in Kalayaan Elementary School, they would often dropout due to their “poor performance”. Underachieving students have been seen to have the greatest at risk of dropping out of the school system as they feel as though they cannot do much or achieve anything. Since the creation of the informal play centre, feedback from the school has been positive; students have been performing much better and reaching in the upper card of their class.

The play centre is basic, containing a washroom and a study area with limited school supplies. Education is a top priority for Filipino parents and their children as it can help break the cycle of poverty. Due to its success, Lisa, who runs the educational playcentre, now holds two classes a day, 5 days a week. Parents pay 5 Pesos a day towards the day care, which is no simple task as most parents have financial problems. To help the playcentre and other similar educational establishments, we would like to ask people to possibly donate Php 300 to purchase a school bag filled with school supplies as part of our annual Back to School Pencil Drive. This would be an opportunity to make a change and help make these children become a true success story.