While many think that the future of Philippine education lies in new technologies like computers and the internet, New York-based Filipina Nina Patawaran believes a solution can be found in something as simple as a dictionary.

Patawaran, a former banker, is the founder of The Philippines Dictionary Project, a grass-roots movement with the goal of distributing well-designed children’s illustrated dictionaries to public elementary schools across the entire Philippines in a manner that promotes transparency, accountability and sustainability.

Since it was first started in 2008, the project has benefitted 57 schools – 30 in Negros Oriental and 27 in Capiz – with Batangas, Iloilo, and Davao set to be included as the project expands.

“Dictionaries designed for children are important because children have their own special needs: large font, lots of pictures, generous use of color, foolproof phonetic pronunciation guides and definitions expressed in simple but full sentences, just to name a few,” Patawaran explains. “Dictionaries are very much needed by Philippine public elementary schools as limited vocabulary
amongst the children prevents them from fully comprehending the passages that they read.”

TRIBUTE TO A FATHER

While Patawaran has been participating in book donation drives since the 1990s, it was the death of her father in 2002 that would spur her to start something which would memorialize his name and his belief in the importance of education in a child’s life.

She would begin in 2006 with the donation of 400 brand-new, hardbound children’s books – composed of a mix of fiction, dictionaries, atlases, and thesauri – to the Silliman University Elementary School. The donations eventually grew to over 4,000 volumes by mid-2008.

“Each book was stamped with ‘In memory of Walfrido R. Patawaran’. Here was something that captures an important part of ‘me’ while paying tribute to Papa and Mama,” she says.

The decision to focus on dictionaries would come in 2008, when several children’s literacy advocates she met with in Manila told her that there was no initiative to systematically address the dictionary needs of the public schools.

In response, she would approach the Ayala Foundation and Scholastic Philippines in order to help her fund her plan to provide 500 dictionaries to 10 elementary schools. The help provided by the two organization would help exceed her initial target – over 1,000 dictionaries were provided to over 28 elementary schools in the Negros Oriental area.

DICTIONARY BANK

Unlike other books donation drives, The Philippines Dictionary Project takes an innovative approach to ensuring that the donated books reach the beneficiary schools, while at the same time ensuring
that the books end up being taken care of.

Rather than giving the books directly to the beneficiary schools, the project hands over the dictionaries to “dictionary bank” schools like Silliman University, which in turn lend out the books to the public schools that need it for a nominal fee. The fee is used to cover operational expenses.

“Ownership is never transferred to the public elementary school. This is critical. If ownership is transferred, no one could ever go back and rescind the donation,” explains Patawaran. “It is a different matter if ownership is retained by Silliman. When books are lent, the loan can be cancelled and the books withdrawn in the event of abuse.”

This approach stems from an unsatisfactory experience Patawaran had when she first decided to participate in a book donation drive with the Sagrada Elementary School in Negros Oriental.

“A friend had asked me to donate to a memorial library in the Sagrada Elementary School, which I did; I sent some 160 hand-picked and personally packed brand-new, hardbound volumes,” she recalls. “When I asked the Silliman University Elementary School librarian to audit the books at Sagrada a few months after, she came back with the very displeasing news that some books were missing, and no one could give a good accounting of the loss.”

Patawaran says that while the outcome of her donation infuriated her, it was the pervading expectation that books donated to the Philippines would eventually be lost or destroyed that ultimately spurred her on.

“I racked my brain for a way to get books to the children, however, in a manner that I, and all other donors, don’t ever have to be subjected again to the indignity of being told that one should expect donated books to disappear in due course,” she says. “My stubbornness was rooted in my conviction that Filipinos are highly capable of responsible behavior, but only provided that the right checks and balances are put into place.”

By the looks of things, it would seem that everything is working out according to plan. Silliman University reports that all of the schools that received the dictionaries in November last year have reported an increase in their mean percentage scores. One school’s mean percentage score jumped from 39 percent to 65 percent after five months with a set of 50 dictionaries.

Patawaran is even looking towards expanding beyond donating books. The Philippines Dictionary Project recently had its first teacher training session on reading. The session was conducted by Silliman University’s Gina Bonor, a Fullbright masteral scholar.

“The big ‘win’ is that Gina was actually paid her full professional fee, courtesy of the P500 rental fee received from each of the 30 participating Negros Oriental schools,” she says. “In Capiz, on the other hand, we conducted a teacher training session using the US Department of Education materials that I had sent from the US.”

Patawaran is also approaching the Philippine Association of School Librarians (PASL), the Reading Association of the Philippines (RAP), and the Metrobank Foundationfor future partnerships.

DONORS NEEDED

While the project has its share of big corporate sponsors and partners in the form of Jollibee Foods Corporation, BPI Foundation, Bato-Balani Foundation, Washington Sycip, the Ayala WFoundation, and Scholastic Philippines, Patawaran says that The Philippines Dictionary Project is still very much a donor-centered effort.

“I consider it a major coup to have OFWs either give funds to or raise funds on behalf of the project. An enterprising OFW told me that she had no funds to give, but she could certainly approach the rich folks for whom she cleans,” she says. “I was floored when one of her employers sent a check to support one school in the OFW’s mom’s hometown.”

In fact, Patawaran says she designed the project to allow even ordinary people to take part. The cost to donate just one dictionary is P350 only.

“In more ways than one, this Project capitalizes on the People Power of bite size donors. On our own, we might not have much to give financially. However, together, we can all make a huge difference,”
she says. “In addition to donating, or engaging in fundraisings on behalf of the Project, they can talk about it to parents, principals, or local officials.”

As for other young Filipinos looking to start their own change, Patawaran says that an open mind is the key to success.

“Learn the ropes, open your mind to new ways of doing things, meet new people who may share your passion, or those who disagree with your approach,” she ends. “We all have something to contribute. The more solutions brought to the table, the better for the Filipino children.”

(If you want to help out The Philippines Dictionary Project, you can e-mail philippinesdictionaryproject@gmail.com)