CALAMBA CITY (PIA) — The Department of Education (DepEd) City Schools Division of Calamba is bringing enhanced learning to students through the HELOW (Highly Enhanced Library-on-Wheels) project, a mobile library that intends to improve literacy among children by giving them access to learning materials. 

The HELOW project, which was first rolled out at the Eduardo Barretto Sr. Elementary School here, is one of the efforts pushed by the DepEd Calamba City to accelerate the delivery of essential education services and the provision of facilities aligned with the DepEd’s MATATAG agenda and DREAM (Digitized Resources in Education for Applicable Modalities) project.

The mobile library that will go around the city features interactive storytelling and reading sessions. To encourage students to enjoy reading books, the DepEd Calamba City also thought of providing tokens and prizes to learners during the question-and-answer portion of the HELOW project’s reading sessions. 

John Carlo Paita, education program supervisor, said the HELOW project aspires to reach the remotest schools without access to library hubs. 

He added that the mobile library is also seen to improve the reading level of 9,049 key stage one learners, belonging to the “frustration level.” Frustrated readers refer to learners who can read words but do not have the desire and the ability to comprehend, according to DepEd. 

Schools Division Supt. Gerlie Ilagan, CESO VI expressed aspiration to involve the barangay officials and parents, together with the school heads and teachers, in facilitating reading sessions.

Ilagan believes that teaching children to read, write, and count is a shared responsibility of the entire community. She also encouraged school leaders to schedule visual storytelling and reading sessions at least 30 minutes once a week in their respective schools. (Christopher Hedreyda, PIA-Laguna)