Japanese Ambassador Toshinao Urabe will attend the turn-over ceremony of “The Project for the Construction of Classroom Building for Bualan Elementary School” on March 14, 2013 in Barangay Bualan in Pikit Municipality.
The ceremony will also be attend ed by Cotabato Governor Emmylou Talino Mendoza, Pikit Municipal Mayor Sumulong Sultan, DepEd Cotabato District Supervisor Mrs. Kolma M. Alonto and Mr. Tomo Matsui, Executive Director of Mindanao Children's Library Foundation, Inc. (MCLFI). The project, amounting to US$99,465 (approximately 4.3 million pesos), is funded through the Embassy of Japan's Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP).
The project was initiated by the Mindanao Children's Library Foundation, Inc. (MCLFI), a local non-government organization which provides scholarship to pupils of Bualan Elementary School. The grant was utilized through the construction of a one- storey s even - classroom building and provision of armchairs, blackboards and teacher's table and chairs. More than 46 0 students are expected to benefit from the project. Many of them come from families displaced by the armed conflict in Pikit.
Bualan Elementary School, one of the oldest public elementary schools in the Municipality of Pikit is located in a remot e part of the municipality. Established in 1964, the school has been experiencing major setbacks in providing quality education to its students brought about by the lack of school facilities. For the past three decades, classes were being held in makeshift and overcrowded classrooms.
The project is part of the Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development (J-BIRD) , which has been i mplemented since 2006 . T he objective of J-BIRD is to enable the people and the communities in the target areas to enjoy the “dividends of peace” through the Japanese ODA (Official Development Assistance) on the basis of “Human Security” principles , and thus to contribute to facilitate the peace process while uplifting the quality of life of people in the conflict-affected areas in Mindanao . As of March 201 3 , 58 GGP projects have been implemented under J-BIRD, with the total amount of USD 4.7 million or approximately 243 million pesos.
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