Published on: February 16, 2023
By Marcelo Pedalino
MAASIN CITY (PIA) -- A top official of a US-based non-government organization joined with city and provincial leaders, as well as Department of Education (DepEd) heads, to inaugurate a facility Wednesday, February 15, that offers hope for children with special needs to get attention for their medical, learning needs.
Yvette Malcioln, deputy director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Education, and City Mayor Nacional Mercado cut the ribbon and pulled open a marker for the hearing and audiological test center located inside the health center in barangay Combado, this city.
The inauguration ceremony was also attended by Provincial Board Member Yna Marie Loy representing Vice Governor Rosa Emilia Mercado, DepEd Regional Director Evelyn Fetalvero, Josilyn Solana and Genis Murallos, schools division superintendent in the city and province, respectively.
“All children have a right to education,” Malcioln pointed out in her congratulatory message, adding that the center can be an instrument for blind, deaf, and deaf-blind children to increase participation and learning, and strengthen inclusive, quality education which the USAID was committed to pursue.
The facilities are part of P112 million four-year project called Gabay and implemented by the Resources for the Blind Inc., an NGO, Malcioln shared.
Mayor Mercado for his part said he was grateful to the American people for extending such kind of help so that children with sense disabilities on hearing and eyesight can gain equality in terms of education, giving them hope.
Board Member Loy likewise expressed support and commitment on the part of the provincial government for the project, saying she believed in shaping young minds, obviously without discrimination.
Gabay project, according to a press statement earlier sent to PIA, reaches out to children with vision and hearing problems by providing the necessary services for their inclusion in their own families, schools, and communities.
Children who are not yet in school and found with hearing impairments at the newly-opened Hearing/Audiological Test Center are referred to DepEd for enrollment.
“Since 2019, the Gabay project has been implemented in the provinces of Batangas, Sorsogon, and Sothern Leyte and has helped triple the enrollment of deaf and blind children,” the press statement reported. (MMP/PIA Southern Leyte)
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