President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. personally spearheaded the distribution of school bags, storybooks, and essential learning materials to public school students in San Juan City on Thursday, highlighting the government’s commitment to boosting literacy and strengthening basic education across the country.
Accompanied by Education Secretary Sonny Angara, the President visited Pinaglabanan Elementary School. During the visit, Marcos interacted with the students, checked out the school’s smart classroom facilities, and met with beneficiaries of the Presidential Scholarship Program.
The distribution aligns with the Department of Education’s intensified campaign to counter learning losses and elevate reading proficiency among early graders, specifically students from Kindergarten to Grade 3.
A core component of this initiative is a nationwide literacy drive targeted at providing age-appropriate storybooks to approximately 6.8 million young learners across the Philippines. These resources are specifically crafted to assist children in transitioning from learning how to read to utilizing reading as a tool for broader learning.
As part of the drive, the Office of the President distributed 1,000 school bags packed with fundamental learning supplies for early-grade students, funded through the Office of the Executive Secretary’s Socio-Civic Projects Fund.
In addition to the basic education layout, Marcos checked in with 105 beneficiaries of the Presidential Scholarship Program, a state-led initiative designed to grant deserving students access to quality higher education.
Local support complemented the national initiative, as San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora announced the distribution of 13,000 tablets to Kindergarten through Grade 12 students across all 13 public schools in the city.
The massive, nationwide rollout of educational books and resources has already kicked off in other provinces, including Rizal, Cebu, and Davao Oriental.