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DepEd Receives 22,000 Donated Armchairs

By INA HERNANDO-MALIPOT

February 6, 2012, 3:14pm

MANILA, Philippines — In a bid to help solve the lack of furniture for students in public schools prior to the opening of school year 2012-2013 in June, the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) Monday reported it has donated some 22,000 units of school armchairs to the Department of Education (DepEd).

TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva said more students will benefit if they will be able to produce more armchairs, adding that “having their own chairs will allow students to study comfortably and focus more on their lessons.”

The chairs are either produced or readied to be assembled by a pool of workers trained by TESDA for the PNoy Bayanihan project. The project,which started last year, involves turning confiscated logs into chairs to help address shortage in school furniture, particularly arm chairs, to be used by students in both public elementary and high schools.

TESDA, along with DepEd, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), collaborated for the initiative. PAGCOR committed a P100 million fund for the equipment used in manufacturing the armchairs while DepEd takes charge of distribution.

Villanueva said that TESDA targets to produce 50,000 armchairs to fill up the shortage in the CARAGA region where seven million board feet of logs were confiscated.

“If deliveries of lumber and other materials from the DENR are on track, we hope to achieve a zero backlog of armchairs in the region,” Villanueva stressed.

As of February 2012, a total of 21,634 units have either been produced or readied for assembly by TESDA. Villanueva explained that of this number, 8,270 were completely assembled; 3,873 were complete knockdown chairs or assembled but no varnish yet while parts were produced and readied to be assemble into 9,527 chairs.

“A total of 6,896 completely assembled units have been delivered to beneficiary schools,” Villanueva added.

In August, some 500 units were turned over to the Ramon Magsaysay High School in Cubao, Quezon City. Meanwhile, 6,396 units were recently delivered to the most populated schools in the CARAGA Region – Butuan Central Elementary School (1,900 units), Agusan National High School (2,000 units), Butuan City School of Arts and Trades (800 units), Agusan del Sur NHS (300 units), Libertad CES (186 units), La Trinidad ES (450 units), Villa Kananga ES (260 units), San Vicente ES (350 units), Kinamlutan IS (50 units) and Ong Yu ES (100 units).

Villanueva said that to be able to produce one chair would cost P580, including varnish and delivery, which is cheaper by about 40 percent than school chairs sold commercially.

The donated chairs were produced in only one production site – the Furniture Training and Production Center - established at the Agusan del Sur School of Arts and Trade, one of the 125 TESDA technology institutes nationwide.

“Some 117 skilled workers who have undergone training under TESDA are involved in the project and we can assure that we have a pool of skilled workers to do the job should the demand increase when the lumber and other materials come in,” Villanueva said.

The TESDA chief announced that two more production sites are being eyed in Isabela and Quezon provinces to speed up production. “This is TESDA's contribution to the project and we guarantee that our trained workers will always give the best quality work,” he said.

Villanueva said the collaborative project mirrors the Aquino administration’s thrust toward curbing corruption, educating the youth and providing jobs and livelihood to the people. “Turning hot logs into school chairs are giving to the people back what was stolen from them,” Villanueva said.