Thousands of pencils donated to Cebu students on Brigada Eskwela launch

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) turned over thousands of pencils to underprivileged elementary students during the Brigada Eskwela 2017 national kick-off at the Ramon Duterte Memorial National High School in Cebu City on Monday, May 15.

The turnover is part of the CWC’s “One Million Lapis” campaign which seeks to collect pencils to be distributed and turned over to different public schools with poor students as beneficiaries.

“Ang kampanyang ito ay isang pakilala sa karapatan nang bata sa dekalidad na edukasyon. Ang lapis ay simbolo nang kakayahan nang bata na maipakita ang kanyang saloobin, mga ideya, at kakayahan sa pamamagitan nang panulat,” Marijoy Segui of CWC said during the turnover ceremony.

(This campaign recognizes the right of every child to quality education. The pencil is a symbol of the ability of every child to express their feelings, ideas, and abilities through writing.)

Since the start of their campaign in April 2016, a total of 300,316,000 pencils were collected through donations from private companies, institutions, national government agencies, non-government organizations, and regional committee and sub-committees from the Welfare of Children with the support of Department of Education (DepEd). 

“Ang mga lapis na ito bagama’t simple lang ay inaasahan namin na malaki ang maitutulong sa mga batang mag-aaral ngayong darating na pasukan,” Segui added.

(We expect that these pencils, though simple donations, will make a huge difference to children this coming opening of clases.)

CWC plans to initiate a second part of the campaign that will call “One Million Bags and School Supplies” in 2017. – Rappler.com

Apple Grace Danuco is one of Rappler’s lead Movers in Cebu.

Share your Brigada Eskwela photos, videos, and stories on x.rappler.com.