THE Department of Education (DepEd), in partnership with HOPE and leading local brands, launched Generation Hope on Monday to help address classroom shortages of more than 165,000 in the country. The public-private partnership aims to build more public-school classrooms throughout the country by channeling a portion of profits and donations from consumers of the country’s leading brands. This includes companies like BDO, Carmen’s Best, Grab, Penshoppe, The Aivee Clinic, SM Supermalls, and Sunnies.

DepEd Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” M. Angara welcomed the partnership, especially as the agency works with a budget insufficient to address an increasing classroom backlog.

“The budget really is insufficient every year. The deficit has been growing. Twelve years ago, maybe the deficit was 55,000 classrooms — now it’s 165,000,” Mr. Angara said during the launch.   

“There’s a million of us, but sometimes it feels lonely — especially when our budget was cut by 12 million.”   

HOPE founder Nanette Gwen Medved said the initiative marks an expansion of the organization’s efforts, which began in 2012. While they have already built 144 classrooms since then, she said that this is still a “drop in the bucket” compared to the overall classroom shortage. 

“If we want to inspire the nation to nation-build through education, we have to do it with the big brands. It’s not going to happen with small brands,” Ms. Medved said.

HOPE classrooms cost only between P1.2 million and P1.4 million to build, compared to their DepEd counterparts, which average P2.5 million. 

Funding for these classrooms will come from a portion of the profits or rewards generated by consumers of partnered brands.

BDO has pledged to donate P5 for every P1,000 spent using the “HOPE in Every Spend” credit card. Cardholders also have the option to convert their reward points into donations. A portion of the annual membership fee will also be allocated to the initiative.

Meanwhile, ride-hailing app Grab will allow its users to convert their rewards points into donations to support the construction of HOPE classrooms.

SM Supermalls will also contribute a portion of proceeds from SM-branded water bottles sold through partner food merchants. 

Other brands, such as Penshoppe, Carmen’s Best, Aivee Clinic, and Sunnies, will be launching exclusive product lines dedicated to supporting HOPE classrooms.

The exact number of classrooms planned for construction under the Generation HOPE program has yet to be announced. More classrooms are expected to be built due to expanded support from the private sector and consumers. — Edg Adrian A. Eva