FWA–UK has sustained its commitment to the education and the improvement of health and well-being, especially of young women and children in the Philippines. It has a healthy scholarship programme that started with one profoundly deaf student at the Southeast Asian Institute for the Deaf. The number of scholarship beneficiaries has grown to nearly one hundred including the elementary school children from different schools in the Philippines from Luzon to Mindanao.
The Education and Scholarship Grants Committee is responsible for the evaluation of applications for scholarship for high school students in the Philippines, and the recommendation for approval of applicants that meet the criteria to the Executive Board.
The committee comprises current members of FWA-UK. The Committee meets at least twice a year, prior to the start of the school year in the Philippines, to receive progress reports for current scholars and to evaluate new applicants.
The Committee is also responsible for evaluating the merits of applications for grants for projects under its ‘Support-a-School’ programme. Through this programme, more students will benefit from the additional learning and teaching resources and improved learning environment in their school.
FWA-UK launched its “Support-a-School Programme” in 2014. In the aftermath of super typhoon Haiyan, it became apparent to us that schools that were directly hit by the typhoon needed help to recover some of their teaching and learning resources e.g. computers, printers, audio-visual equipment. Through our “Support-a-School Programme”, we were able to donate some equipment to affected schools in Tacloban, Leyte where some of our scholars are enrolled. We were also able to facilitate a UK based school (St Peter’s Roman Catholic High School) to help Cawayan Elementary School in Carles, Iloilo, a school that was destroyed by typhoon Haiyan.