Israel, nag-donate ng learning center sa Taguig school

PORMAL na tinurn over ng MASHAV, aid agency ng Israel ang isang bagong learning center sa mga estudyante ng Ususan Elementary School (UES).

Kapwa pinangunahan nina MASHAV Head Ambassador Eynat Shlein at Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss, ang unveiling ceremony sa Taguig City.

Sinabi ng mga ito na ang nasabing center ang hudyat ng interest ng Tel Aviv na ipagpatuloy at itaas ang ‘development cooperation’ nito sa bansa.

Ang Nir Oz Resource Learning Center, ibinigay na pangalan matapos atakihin ng Hamas ang Israeli kibbutz noong October 2023 ay kumpleto sa mga materyales sa pagbabasa at equipment na binili ng MASHAV.

“The learning center is one of the building stones of the joint quest between Israel and the Philippines for sustainable development. And if we want to get to development, we need to start from the beginning,” ang sinabi ni Shlein.

“The beginning are the seeds and the seeds of the future are the children —we need to look after them,” dagdag na wika nito.

Maliban sa maging inspirado ang mga estudyante na magbasa ng mas maraming libro, umaasa si Shlein na ang naturang center ay makapagpo-promote ng pagkakaibigan, pagkakaunawaan

at open-mindedness sa mga mag-aaral.

“The fact that we helped establish this refuge for children from daily teachings where they could sit and think and reconnect, for us, that is a building block for sustainable education,” ayon kay Shlein.

“Education is a core beacon in our work, and as we have worked already in 140 countries and trained hundreds of thousands of people, out of which many thousands are Filipinos, we are happy to continue on this joyful bilateral track,” dagdag na wika nito.

Sa kabilang dako, sinabi naman ni Fluss na plano rin ng Israel na makatuwang ang mas maraming stakeholders para pondohan ang kahalintulad na mga center sa ibang lugar sa labas ng Metro Manila.

“It’s very humble but that’s the Israeli approach —we believe in the development of human resources, even in other programs, we always look at capacity building,” ayon kay Fluss.

Ang Niz Or Center ay isa sa apat na learning spaces na pinondohan ng Israel sa bansa.

Samantala, nakiisa naman sa inagurasyon si Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano. (Daris Jose)