ADB grant sought to secure learning kits for poor students in remote areas

The Philippines is in talks with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a grant that will help students in far-flung areas secure learning materials that were made inaccessible by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the Philippines, “discussions are underway to mobilize support for last mile learning initiatives of the government to ensure sustained access to education for children in remote communities with limi­ted-to-no internet connectivity,” the ADB said in a report.

Sought for details, Kelly Bird, the ADB’s country director for the Philippines, told the Inquirer that their ongoing discussions with the Philippine government involved a “small grant,” the amount of which was yet to be firmed up, “to help support the Department of Education’s (DepEd) last mile learning initiative.”

Thousands of the DepEd’s last mile schools are located in geographically isolated, disadvantaged and conflict-affected areas, where only a handful of teachers usually teach hundreds of students belonging to indigenous groups.

Through this upcoming grant, Bird said “children from poor families in remote areas [would] have access to all the education materials and toolkits for them to continue learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Bird did not say when the grant would be approved but “we see this as a critical priority of the DepEd.”

On top of this grant, the ADB said it was also seeking other cofinancing partners for its COVID-19 active response and expenditure support (Cares) program in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, which would possibly include the Australian government and the Opec Fund for International Development of the member-states of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and another round from the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The ADB’s $1.5-billion loan for the Cares program in the Philippines was already cofinanced by AIIB ($750 million) and Japan International Cooperation Agency ($460 million). INQ