Metrobank employees help boost PH public education

Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) partners with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) for the Build-a-Classroom project, which aims to construct classrooms in public schools nationwide. The initiative was spearheaded in line with the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Metrobank.
The Build-a-Classroom project aims to construct 24 classrooms in 10 public schools located in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao over a two-year period and will cost of P23.4 million. Construction of the Metrobank-sponsored classrooms begins in January 2013. What makes the Build-a-Classroom project more meaningful is that Metrobank employees are donating a portion of their salaries for the project. The fund-raising drive is spearheaded by the Purple Hearts Club, the bank’s employee volunteers’ group.
“The Build-a-Classroom project is our way of serving the needs of the community and to give back to the communities we do business in. Education development has always been a core advocacy of the Metrobank Group but what makes this even more special is due to the personal contributions being made by employees of the bank, regardless of rank and position, to raise part of the cost needed to build the classrooms. It’s truly a legacy that Metrobank can be proud of,” said Fabian Dee, President of Metrobank.
Recent estimates from the Department of Education show a classroom shortage of about 68,000. Textbook and classroom chairs shortages, on the other hand, are at 60 million and 2.5 million, respectively. The government has been encouraging the private sector to engage into Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs) to stem the gaps in the public education system.