The Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has launched a PHP 510-million corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative to improve access to quality education at basic and tertiary levels.

The five-year initiative is named the DBP Integrated Scholastic Programme for Inclusive and Responsive Education (DBP Inspire).

According to DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Michael de Jesus, the programme seeks to supplement government efforts in the education sector through collaborative endowment and support projects.

He stated,

“The DBP Inspire programme reinforces the Bank’s commitment of fostering support to the education sector and is aligned with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s vision to place education at the forefront of the national development agenda.”

DBP has dedicated PHP 437.5-million, the largest portion of the funding, to a scholarship programme. This scholarship will provide for the tuition, matriculation fees, and other expenses for 350 students.

The scholarships will support those enrolled in engineering, accountancy, education, agriculture and forestry, sciences, maritime studies, information technology, and technical-vocational courses.

The DBP will allocate a further PHP 72.5-million to the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Adopt-a-School and Brigada Eskwela programmes.

The programme uses this funding to improve classroom facilities and provide learning equipment for 150 public primary and secondary schools throughout the country.

The DBP is implementing the Inspire programme in collaboration with DepEd and partner higher education institutions to ensure the strategic optimisation of its resources.

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