RAFI-SEED Grants Expo showcases top performing public schools in Cebu

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY -- The Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI)-Seal of Excellence in Education Development (SEED) hosted the RAFI SEED Grants Expo on July 22, gathering top performing public schools in Cebu to share best practices in school improvement and learning delivery.

RAFI, in a press release said that the awardees of the 2019 SEED Awards were awarded in May 2021 after which they started implementing projects and improvements in their respective schools.

All recognized schools have fully utilized the grants awarded by RAFI-SEED, making way for opportunities of knowledge sharing, collaboration, and cross-learning. The Expo, organized by

RAFI’s Education Development Unit (RAFI-EDU) brought together these 2019 SEED awardees to showcase their respective accomplishments and projects.

"We look forward to listening to the accomplishments and stories of our awardees. We first recognized and awarded them in 2021 for their outstanding accomplishments and local initiatives in making learning more accessible, engaging, and innovative for their learners and their school communities,” Sheerene Abrea, Officer-in-Charge of the RAFI-EDU said.

Abrea said, with the grants they received from RAFI had taken their schools and the work they do a notch higher because the SEED Awards is an assessment and awards program that recognizes outstanding public elementary and secondary schools in Cebu using an evidence-based scorecard.

The SEED Awards program aims to increase the number of high performing schools by engaging, mobilizing, and capacitating school communities at the same time promote best practices by featuring local initiatives that further education development.

According to Abrea, the Education Development Unit of RAFI aims to improve the wellbeing of learners on the margins to prepare them for a changing world through enabling communities of learning by leveraging resources to bridge education gaps.

 Meet the RAFI SEED Grant top performing awardees

Among the presenters of the Expo are Pit-os Elementary School from Carcar City which bagged the highest award in the SEED 2019 Awards elementary category and Compostela National High School from the Municipality of Compostela, Cebu likewise received the top honors during the SEED 2019 Awards for the secondary category.

Pit-os Elementary School received a grant worth P1.5M and has use it to implement the Surfeit Understanding on Good and Appropriate Nutrition on Graders (SUG-ANG) Project with the goal of maintaining 0% of undernourished and malnourished pupils for School Year 2021-2022.

The Compostela National High School on the other hand also received P1.5M and used it to implement the Resources and Instruction Sustaining Education (RAISE) project with the goal of decreasing the number of non-readers from 112 to 80 students by 2022.

The complete list of SEED 2019 awardees included from the Elementary Category, 1st Place, Pit-os Elementary School, Carcar City with its Surfeit Understanding on Good and Appropriate Nutrition to Graders (SUG-ANG) and Uplifting and Nurturing Individuals through Technological Empowerment and Development (UNITED) Projects with a Grant of P1,500,000.

The 2nd Place went to Bogo Central School 2, Bogo City with the Improvement of Digital-Learning Facilities and Services Project with a grant of P1,000,000 while the 3rd Place went to Sinsin Elementary School, Cebu City with its Tinun-an Agakon sa Matematika ug Basa Alang sa YAno ug Yabong nga Oras sa pag-alima Nindot ug tiunay nga Gasa (TAMBAYAYONG) program with a Grant of P500,000.

The 4th Place went to Carmen Elementary School, Toledo City with its Dare to Dear project with a grant of P200,000 while the 5th Place went to Cordova Central School, Municipality of Cordova with its Creative Articulation and Reading Enhancement (CARE) Center project with a grant of P200,000.

For the Secondary Category, 1st Place went to Compostela National High School, Municipality of Compostela with the Resources and Instruction Sustaining Education (RAISE) project with a grant of P1,500,000.

The 2nd Place: Don Andres Soriano National High School, Toledo City Project: Research Study Center Grant: Php. 1,000,000 while 3rd Place: Liburon National High School, Naga City with Project 5 Ps (Pang-eskwelang Pasilidad Panindutun, Parents-Involvement Palig-unon) with a grant of P500,000.

The 4th Place went to Uling National High School, Naga City with its Reading Enthusiasts towards Achieving Dreams (READ) project with a grant of P200,000 and the 5th Place went to Binabag National High School, Bogo City with its Digitalized Classroom Instruction project with a grant of P200,000.

 SEED Awards, a briefer

In 2021, the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. through its Education Development Unit (RAFI EDU) awarded ten top performing public schools in Cebu through its Seal of Excellence in Education Development (SEED) Awards.

This annual assessment and awards program is part of RAFI EDU's commitment to support and aid school communities to provide better learning experience to its students.  Through this, RAFI EDU has recognized and awarded grants for public schools to open opportunities to implement projects and activities to address the gaps or needs identified in the assessment.

The SEED Program is open to all public elementary and secondary schools of Cebu (excluding special schools). Each school will undergo an assessment according to the rubric designed by educators, following the DepEd standards on each specified KRA.

At the end of the stringent processing and assessment, a total of P6,800,000.00 worth of grant lines is given to the Top 5 schools in both elementary and secondary categories.  

Finalists of the program are given P200,000.00; third place receives P500,000.00; second place is granted P1,000,000.00 and the first place will receive P1.500.000.00. (Photos: Facebook/Google Images)