ZAMBOANGA CITY — Vice President Sara Duterte officially rolled out the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) Madrasah Reading Corner Program on Friday, October 16, aimed at enhancing educational support and reading resource accessibility for Muslim students.
According to an official statement from the OVP, Ma’had Da’wa Al-Islamie in Zamboanga City served as the pilot site and first beneficiary of the initiative.
During the launch, the school was equipped with essential classroom amenities provided by the OVP, including tables, chairs, and bookshelves. Additionally, the institution received a collection of 126 children’s books contributed by the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Manila, designed to cater to the academy’s population of 420 students.
In her address to the attendees, Duterte highlighted the vital role of reading comprehension, encouraging the youth to look beyond merely going through text and genuinely grasp the meaning of what they read.
She motivated the learners to persevere in their academic pursuits, complete their schooling, and strive for a brighter future. The Vice President likewise advised the children to pay close attention to their parents and teachers, stressing how crucial their mentorship is to personal growth and education.
Furthermore, Duterte urged the students to cultivate reading as a regular habit, share books with younger family members, and properly maintain the reading materials so that future batches of students can benefit from them.
She also called on the school’s Islamic religious educators, the ustadz and ustadza, to ensure that the reading corner remains readily available to students throughout school days.
Expressing her gratitude, Duterte acknowledged the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Manila for their book donations, which significantly bolster the facility’s learning inventory.
The OVP announced plans to expand the Madrasah Reading Corner Program to additional madaris nationwide, seeking to continuously uplift learning conditions and literacy rates among Muslim youth.