Security Bank Foundation, Inc. (SBFI) addressed the need for more classrooms of a public school in Cabadbaran City, Agusan del Norte following its elevation from an elementary school to an integrated school in 2018. The Foundation donated a two-storey, eight classroom school building to Chief Justice Ramon Avancena Integrated School (CJRAIS) which was turned over last November 26, 2024.

The school used to have only 18 classrooms which forced it to implement two class shifts, morning and afternoon, for junior high school students given the lack of classrooms. The school building donation was a response to the request of Antonio Avancena, donor of lot and son of former Chief Justice Ramon Avancena, who is very much aware of the SBFI’s mission of helping the government address classroom shortage through its Build a School, Build a Nation Program.

“The Foundation already donated 845 classrooms to 145 schools, located in 86 Philippines cities and municipalities. God willing, for as long as Security Bank does well, we shall continue to donate more classrooms to our public-school sector,” said Rafael Simpao, Jr., SBFI Chairman.

“But, we also know that infrastructure alone could not improve the quality of education because the quality of the learning of our students is very much dependent on the administrative skills of our school principals and the teaching expertise of our teachers.  This is why we provide critical training programs for school principals and teachers of our beneficiary schools,” Simpao further said.

CJRAIS Principal Joel Mejorada was admitted last July 2024 to SBFI’s Mentoring Future Leaders for Nation-Building Program. The said program is a 3-year training curriculum for school principals with the aim of making them experts and mentors in school problem solving and action planning, transformational and innovative leadership, and stakeholder engagement.

Since Mejorada’s admission to the training, he has developed and implemented an action plan to address low literacy rates and absenteeism at the school. His initiatives include rolling out remedial materials, incorporating digital aids to make learning more engaging, involving parents in the education process, and providing free lunch to students who face hunger as a barrier to attending school.

Through SBFI’s holistic approach of providing essential educational infrastructure and empowering educators to become proactive problem solvers, SBFI inspires various stakeholders to invest in improving the state of education in the country—even if it means starting with just one classroom, one school principal, or one student at a time.

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