Mobile library to visit secluded areas with no access to books

Check out Lakbay Aklatan, a mobile library initiative by Five Star Bus Company and Hulma Foundation.

According to Ria Cauton, one of the founders of Lakbay Aklatan, a retired bus was reused and converted into a library that will then visit four different schools in Tarlac, specifically in Laoang, San Juan de Valdez, Mapalad and Carangian.

Although only one bus is used for this initiative, the converted bus will visit each school once a month for an entire week this school year.

Cauton said in a phone interview on Wednesday that they don't just want children to read for a while then have the bus drive away.

"It's actually a very focused reading program where we have teachers who will do one-on-one tutorial with the kids," she said.

Targeting Grade 1 and Grade 2 students, Lakbay Aklatan aims to give each student a 10-minute lesson every day for a week, teaching both English and Filipino.

She added, "Our goal is that after Grade 1 and 2, sana 100% of students are already readers."

Cauton said that the project actually stemmed from a discussion with one of Hulma Foundation's scholars Danille Soriano, an Education graduate of Tarlac State University who was a daughter of a retired driver from the Five Star Bus company.

Cauton said, "We got to talking about the challenges that teachers in the provinces and public schools encounter and we realized that if the children are 100% literate, then it sets them up for success."

"Given the literacy challenges faced by our students, we decided to create a very targeted literacy program," she added.

According to Cauton, the Lakbay Aklatan has already visited the Laoang Elementary School on Monday, when it launched. — LA, GMA News