Bacolod City – A memorandum of understanding aimed at promoting literacy and values education has recently been signed between the Uplift Foundation International (UFI) and the Don Felix Robles Elementary School in La Castellana, Negros Occidental.
UFI, represented by its founder and executive director, Alexis Leigh Calipusan, launched its pilot program on literacy education known as Values Advocacy and Literacy Upliftment thru Education and Sharing (VALUES) for Children in the Countryside, a non-profit organization, on September 18 last year, in partnership with St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in La Castellana.
As stipulated in the MOA, VALUES for Children in the Countryside is intended for children with ages ranging from six to 12 years old, who were profiled as Non-Readers and Slow Readers.
The program is composed of 12 sessions per cycle, where values and literacy education is taught by identified volunteers.
The MOA was signed between Calipusan, who represents UFI, and Neri Capadocia, Principal II of Don Felix Robles Elementary School in La Castellana.
Former Lin-ay sang Negros Vi- Anne Cadianza, a native of La Castellana, who is married to Calipusan, said the program aims to assist children in honing their literacy skills, strengthen their values formation and boost their self-confidence.
Former Negros Occidental Gov. Rafael “Lito” Coscolluela had volunteered to be an adviser for the UFI.
As stated further in the MOA, UFI will provide funding support for the implementation of one cycle of VALUES to be called the “FAITH” Batch in the amount of P50,000, provide bags with school supplies to 50 children beneficiaries, modules and session guides, the template needed for implementation, designate a core team who coordinate and monitor the implementation and to recommend strategies that will improve or strengthen the program implementation.
UFI is a non-profit organization, based in Las Vegas in Nevada, United States, while St. Vincent Ferrer Parish is in La Castellana.
The first batch of 54 beneficiaries, calling themselves “Love” Batch completed the 12 sessions of values and literacy classes on Dec. 4 last year. (Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)