Projects
TABACO CITY. PHILIPPINES
SAN MIGUEL NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL SKILLS CENTRE
The realization of this big project will be a great initiative for our island students and their families… If there will be a chance for them to go to school while earning money for their family, they will not be forced to stop studying. It’s like hitting two birds with one stone.
AWF PEOPLE
JACK ELLIS
Architects Without Frontiers is working with US-based charity Minds Beyond Measure and Network Partner NBRS Architecture to develop a new Skills Centre for San Miguel National High School. The centre will host technical and vocational programs in fields including fishing and fish processing, carpentry, hairdressing, agriculture, handicrafts and entrepreneurial skills.
Minds Beyond Measure specialises in global education-based initiatives including teacher coaching and professional development, curriculum development, child and youth development programs, and bicycle empowerment programs for staff and students. Their research with schools in the Philippines found that vocational programs at middle and senior high school level can increase school attendance and improve the economic conditions of entire school communities.
The new skills centre will provide much-needed teaching space for San Miguel National High School after the complete destruction of several campus buildings by Super Typhoon Rolly (Gony) in 2020. The school is currently unable to provide 5-day in-person classes for all year levels, and classes are held outside or in overcrowded and leaking rooms during the rainy season. As part of their planning for the Skills centre, NBRS are developing a long-term masterplan for the replacement of all destroyed classrooms.
Year: 2023
Status: Phase 1 (Master Planning) Under Way
Partners: NBRS
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