CANVAS and DepEd forge book development partnership
Manila City — The Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development (CANVAS), together with the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) under the leadership of Secretary Sonny Angara, sign a Memorandum of Agreement for a book development partnership. The signing ceremony was held last December 6 afternoon at the National Museum of Fine Arts.
The Memorandum of Agreement was signed by DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara, CANVAS Executive Director Atty. Gigo Alampay, DepEd OIC-Undersecretary for Learning Systems Strand Dr. Carmela Oracion, and EDCOM II Executive Director Dr. Karol Yee.
Under this partnership, CANVAS will develop two new books for new and young Filipino parents. With the help of child development experts, these books will address the needs of two key learning stages, ages 0-4 and 5-8.
DepEd will print and distribute the books nationwide to reach families in underserved communities.
CANVAS Executive Director Gigo Alampay announced the partnership during the organization’s Thanksgiving and Christmas party, with board members, partners, artists, and writers in attendance.
“It is with great pleasure that we are here today to work with DepEd to help and support their efforts to gap the literacy crisis in the Philippines. We can all agree that education is still the great equalizer. If people know not just how to read but to love books, reading is a lifelong skill they take with them all their lives,” said Alampay.
DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara reflected on the state of book ownership among children in his address.
“[In our time with DepEd, we find that] the children didn't have their own books. They had to share books. One book per child has to last four years; the child cannot write on it or take notes on it.”
Through this agreement, Sec. Angara expressed the hope that these books will be accessible and owned by every Filipino child.
“CANVAS has donated over 500,000 books in the last 20 years. I think those numbers [and impact] will be [catalyzed] with the help of DepEd, so those beautiful books by amazing artists, seminal artists, iconic artists, iconic artworks, will find their way to the hands of kids as far as Tawi-Tawi, Batanes, Davao Oriental, maybe even Pag-asa Island, which is the east, west, north, and south of our Philippine archipelago,” said Sec. Angara.
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A non-profit that works with the creative community to promote literacy and explore national identity, CANVAS publishes award-winning children's stories and donates the books to benefit children in public schools and poor communities throughout the Philippines. Its One Million Books Campaign promotes independent reading and creative thinking in Filipino children, while also exposing them to the best of contemporary Filipino art and literature. Twenty Years of Art and Stories details the organization’s work, from art exhibitions, book publishing and distribution, to partnerships CANVAS has had in the past two decades.
