Kris Aquino, TV host and presidential sister, is funding five kindergarten classroom building projects through leading property developer Filinvest.  Education is an advocacy both shared by Kris and Filinvest and classroom-building is a step towards improving the situation of public elementary schools.  The classroom project will be spearheaded by her sister Pinky Aquino-Abellada’s Aklat Gabay Aruga Tungo sa Angat at Pag-asa Foundation (AGAPP).

Aquino’s effort through Filinvest is being used by preschool education and literacy advocate AGAPP to construct a “Silid Pangarap” classroom building for the Itaas Elementary School NBP Annex (IESA) in Southville 3, Barangay Poblacion, Muntinlupa City. 

The AGAPP classrooms in IESA will house nearly 600 kindergarten pupils who are currently being taught at two city government-owned daycare buildings outside the campus due to lack of classrooms in the public school.

“When you see that kids are comfortable inside a classroom, where everything they need is provided, they learn fast,” IESA principal Antonio B. Rocha said. The AGAPP classrooms for IESA will also reduce the number of kinder class shifts in a day from five to four and allow children to go home in the afternoon.

As it is, the big number of IESA kinder pupils has to be divided into many classes conducted in different 3-hour shifts lasting until 6 p.m. at the daycare classrooms. Rocha said that with the additional AGAPP classrooms inside the campus, more classes will be simultaneously conducted in a day so kinder pupils can go home by 3 p.m.

IESA currently has a student population of 5,667 students belonging to some 8,000 families relocated in 2009 to Southville 3 from their makeshift homes along railroad tracks in Muntinlupa City. The school has to accommodate up to 65 pupils per classroom instead of from the DepEd-prescribed minimum of 45 pupils per classroom for lower grades and 55 per classroom for higher grades. For kindergarten, the room-student ratio is supposed to be 20:1 but IESA’s kinder classes each has 25 to 27 pupils.

Kris, her son Bimby, who is a kindergarten pupil himself, and her sister Pinky recently visited the IESA to inspect the project site. They were warmly welcomed by the Southville 3 residents and IESA faculty and students, who were all excited to see Kris in person.

In her speech during the visit, Kris said that the AGAPP classrooms will be her legacy and will benefit many children even after her brother, President Benigno Aquino III, ends his term.

Rocha said he was deeply overwhelmed and was so happy for the generosity of Kris, AGAPP and Filinvest.

A 110-square meter lot inside IESA is now being prepared for the construction of the two Silid Pangarap classrooms of AGAPP. The Silid Pangarap is expected to be completed by September and can be used in time for the second semester that starts in October.

Kris and Filinvest are gearing up for four other Silid Pangarap buildings for public elementary schools in Davao, Surigao and Quezon provinces to be built by AGAPP. Each Silid Pangarap building will have two classrooms, a washroom and a library. The donated funds will also shoulder the cost of training teachers who will teach kinder pupils of the new Silid Pangarap classrooms.

Kris is looking forward to the completion of her first Silid Pangarap with Filinvest’s help.  “Love ko ang Filinvest for building the Filipino dream.  In this case, the dreams of many young children for good education,” she said.

Filinvest has been in the business of building dreams and nurturing families for almost 50 years with more than 135,000 homes built on over 2,350 hectares of land across the nation.